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Pastor Thom Keller: Pop psychology has a modern term for this lie. It's called self-actualization. You see the word self-actualization in a paragraph, run. Run. The idea is here, if it's going to be, it's up to me. Think and grow rich. The only thing that can limit you is you. No, no, no. Please be careful with this. This false teaching abounds in certain Christian circles today. Run from that lie.

Guest (Male): We all have needs and that makes us vulnerable to ideas that can rob us of God's blessings. But that raises another question. Since God promises to provide all of our needs and give us the ability to do what we're called to do, what does that look like? We'll find out on today's Study the Word with Pastor Thom Keller. We'll be in Philippians chapter 4. Here now with today's lesson is Pastor Thom.

Pastor Thom Keller: In the early days of our country, a backslid Puritan approached his pastor and confessed that he had stolen a fat goose. The man replied, "Pastor, to make it right, could I give it to you?" "Certainly not. Return it to the man from whom you stole it." "Pastor, I've offered it to him, but he won't have it back." The pastor said, "In that case, you may keep it for yourself." "Oh, thank you, Pastor. Thank you." And the pastor returned home that night to find that his one and only fat goose had been stolen.

The title of our teaching today is God will provide all your needs according to his riches in glory, but not by our strategies and schemes and devices. So let's dig in. We're going to start with a famously popular verse. How famously popular? I went on a website called Bible Study Tools and it said that the following were the most clicked, looked up verses in 2020.

Ready for this? What do you think the number one is? John 3:16. "For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life." Jeremiah 29:11, again another famous one. "For I know the thoughts that I have toward you," says the Lord, "thoughts of peace and not of evil to give you a future and a hope." Beautiful.

And this won't surprise any of you either, Romans 8:28. "And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to his purpose." But the fourth most looked up verse is Philippians 4:13, our verse for the day. "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." It's a strong promise.

So let's take a look. We're going to start at verse 10 to give some context to verse 13. It says, Philippians 4:10, "How I praise the Lord that you are concerned about me again. I know you've always been concerned for me but you didn't have the chance to help me. Not that I was ever in need for I have learned to be content with whatever I have.

"I know how to live in almost nothing or with everything. I've learned the secret of living in every situation, whether it is a full stomach or empty, with plenty or little. For I can do everything through Christ who gives me strength." The key word here is the Greek word for strengthen which is endunamao. Endunamao, and it means to receive strength, to be strengthened, to increase in strength.

But key to the understanding here is the root word that's used. The root word is dunamis. It means a strong concordance as force, specifically miraculous power. It's where we get our English word dynamite. And so here we find the critical key to understanding this famously popular verse. The reason Paul says that he and we can do all things is because of a who and a how.

The who is Christ. So we can do all things only through Christ. So that's the who. What about the how? The how, because Christ endunamaos us, because Christ provides us with his dunamis miraculous working power. That is the how of the equation. This upgrades us from operating in our human strength in the flesh and catapults us into the realm of working in his dynamite power.

I memorized Psalm 75 many years ago and verse 10 says this, "I will cut off the strength of evil men," says the Lord, "and increase the power of good men in their place." I always loved that. I will cut off the strength of evil men and increase the power of good men in their place. And you see once you become a Christian, this is a standing offer God gives to you every day moment by moment.

Do you want to operate with strength or power? Do you want to go through life operating in your strength, getting the best that you can do? Or would you prefer to go through life operating in Christ's power doing the best that he can do through you? Because that is his standing offer. Galatians 2:20 says this, "For my old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me.

"So I live in this heavenly body by trusting in the son of God who loved me and gave himself for me." I no longer live. You no longer live. But Christ lives in you. That is his standing offer. And as Christ lives his life through you by his Holy Spirit, that is what releases his dunamis power. He at the same time, this is incredible, he also produces miraculous fruit in you when you live in that reality.

Galatians 5:22, "But the Holy Spirit, when Christ is living in you and through you, produces this kind of fruit in our lives." How would you like to have this overflowing out of your life, my life? Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things.

And another important distinction we need to clarify is exactly what are all these things that he's talking about. "I can do all things." What things? Does that mean that I can bench press a thousand pounds? The world's record is 885 pounds. Think I can bench press a thousand, Michael? Do you think I can bench press a thousand? Thank you. Thank you. He's a little bigger than I am. He would know that.

Does that mean that I can run a nine-second 100 meter? No. The record's 9.58 seconds. No. The all things are those things that God calls me to do. Cambridge Commentary says this, "These all things are not all things absolutely. We are not omnipotent. These are instead all things which with God has planned for us to do as the will of God brings them to us.

"This represents the actual path of duty set before us, chosen not by ourselves but by our Lord and Master Jesus Christ." Hey and there's one caution here, folks. Be careful, be very careful, please, of the humanist version of this thought that says this, "I can do all things if I simply believe in myself enough." You will hear that all over the place.

Robert Schuller has a famous line that I've quoted many times. This is heresy. He said if you can conceive it, you can achieve it. If you can conceive it, you can achieve it. All looking inward. The same repackaged lie. "I can do all things through me as God makes me strong," versus "I can do all things through Christ living in me." He doesn't want to make you stronger. He doesn't want to make you more able.

He wants you to die so he can live his resurrected life in you and through you. He doesn't want to make you stronger. He wants to give you power. Why live with strength when you can have his power? And pop psychology has a modern term for this lie. It's called self-actualization. You see the word self-actualization in a paragraph, run. Run.

The idea is here, if it's going to be, it's up to me. Think and grow rich. The only thing that can limit you is you. No, no, no. Please be careful with this. This false teaching abounds in certain Christian circles today. Run from that lie. And here's a simple test you can use in the future. These prosperity gospel teachers will tell you that you are self-sufficient.

That's the underlying lie. You are self-sufficient, whereas the Bible always teaches that you are to be God-sufficient. You are God-sufficient because that's who's your sufficiency. Self-sufficiency will ultimately fail because its success depends upon me. How's that going to turn out? How's that working for you? Whereas God-sufficiency will always succeed because its outcome depends on God.

And one last point on gratitude and contentment. Paul says this in verse 12. "I know how to be abased, I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I've learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need." Abase means to depress, to bring low, to humiliate. Abound means to be in great abundance, overflowing, in large measure, to be in affluence.

Strong's says, "super abounding in excess." Wow. And the Bible says that Paul lived in both extremes and he was content in either one of those extremes. On the extreme wealth side, interesting, a commentator Ramsay argues that Paul's trial in Rome would have required considerable money and observes that Felix believed that Paul had access to considerable resources.

Ramsay also suggests that Paul may have been wealthy prior to his Damascus Road conversion. They do believe he was one of the Sanhedrin and that kind of went with that. And that he may have also inherited some family wealth. If that's true, that represents the extreme abounding side that he lived in.

So for the extreme abased side, the want, lack of side, consider what he says in 2nd Corinthians chapter 11. "Five different times the Jewish leaders gave me 39 lashes. Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked. Three times. Once I spent a whole night and a day adrift at sea. I've traveled on many long journeys, I have faced danger from rivers and robbers.

"I've faced danger from my own people, the Jews, as well as from the Gentiles. I've faced dangers in the cities, in the deserts, and on the seas. And I have faced danger from men who claim to be believers but are not. I have worked hard and long, enduring many sleepless nights. I've been hungry and thirsty and have often gone without food. I have shivered in the cold without enough clothing to keep me warm."

Paul, more than most men, had lived on both sides of this equation of abounding and suffering and in the extreme of both. And in that fact, we should admire Paul all the more. Blaise Pascal said this, "I do not admire the extreme of one virtue unless you show me at the same time the extreme of the other virtue. One shows one's greatness not by being at an extremity, but by being simultaneously at two extremities and filling in all the space between."

Of Pascal's comment, C.S. Lewis said this, "By embracing the extremes of God, we give God greater latitude in our lives to be who he really is." MacLaren, this is so good, said this commentator, he said, "It is possible for us not only to endure both extremes, but to get the good out of both. It is a hard lesson to learn to bear sorrow and suffering and want.

"Sorrow and suffering have great lessons to teach us and the character that has not yet been schooled by living in the dark day of suffering is yet an imperfect character. But it is not less difficult to learn how to bear prosperity and abundance, though we think it to be a more pleasant lesson. To carry a cup full without spilling it is proverbially difficult.

"And one can see examples of men who were far better men when they were poor than they ever have been since they were rich, which gives credence to the assertion that it is more difficult to live a Christian life in prosperity than in sorrow. But while both threaten, both may minister to our growth. Sorrow would drive and joy will draw us nearer to God."

He ends by saying, "If we are not tempted by abundance to plunge ourselves into desire, nor tempted by sorrow to think ourselves hopelessly harmed by it, both then can knit us more closely to our true and changeless God. It is a centrifugal and the centripetal forces that keep the earth in balance. The world spinning throws things out and yet gravity pulls things in." And he's saying that this is what keeps us in balance when we can live in either of those extremes.

Now I have a question for you. Do you think it was easier for Paul to live faithfully in his times of superabundance and excess or in his times of abject poverty? You know, don't be too quick to answer for Paul. I don't know the answer here. But this is what I suspect. Remember God had to protect Paul from his pride.

2nd Corinthians 12:7, "Even though I've received such wonderful revelations from God, so to keep me from becoming proud, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger from Satan to torment me and to keep me from becoming proud." And this is how I believe we can surmise that Paul struggled more with abundance than with want, because Paul tells us that he struggled with pride.

And the Bible tells us God will give us grace sufficient to every trial. 2nd 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." And yet even though this is true, we know that when Paul had a superabundant experience, this is when he needed a booster shot. He needed an infirmity to help protect him against his pride.

And the Bible tells us that it's in our plenty that we're the closest to danger. Deuteronomy 8:10 makes this so clear. God speaking to Moses before they go into the Promised Land. He's telling them what they can experience. Moses says to the people, "When you have eaten your fill, be sure to praise the Lord your God for the good land he has given you.

"But that is the time to be careful. Beware that in your plenty you do not forget the Lord your God and disobey his commands, regulations, and decrees that I'm giving you today. For when you have become full and prosperous, listen, for when you have become full and prosperous and have built fine homes to live in, and when your flocks and herds have become very large and your silver and gold have multiplied along with everything else, be careful.

"Do not become proud at that time and forget the Lord your God who rescued you from slavery in the land of Egypt." That is when we need to be on guard. And again we're warned of the same thing in Proverbs chapter 30. I encourage you to memorize this verse. He says, "First help me never to tell a lie. Second give me neither poverty nor riches. Give me just enough to satisfy my need.

"For if I grow rich I may deny you and say, 'Who is the Lord?' And if I am too poor I may steal and thus insult God's holy name." You know I pray this daily, this prayer, that prayer, that idea. And a part of that I say this, there is a dollar amount that would ruin me. I think there's a dollar amount that would ruin everybody. Maybe there are a few that could avoid that.

But I think there's a dollar amount and I say this, "Lord, if you have to put me on either side of balance, what I can handle, put me more on the poverty side than the wealth side because I think I can be trusted more to live in a little bit in the poverty side than too much on the wealth side." And I've said this before, you know what wealthy, really wealthy people do? They buy yachts.

You know what they do with a yacht? They hang around with other people that have yachts. You know what people with yachts do on Sundays? They don't go to church. No, they're beautiful people and they do what beautiful people do. No. Give me just enough to satisfy my needs. Give me neither poverty nor riches, because in poverty I may steal and disgrace your name or in riches I may become content without God. Give me just enough to satisfy my needs.

And then with all that said about living in poverty and plenty, Paul adds this in verse 14. "Even so, you have done well to share with me in my present difficulty." You have done well to share with me in my present difficulty. That goes back to Philippians chapter 2 verse 25. It says, "Meanwhile I thought that I should send Epaphroditus back to you.

"He is a true brother, coworker, and fellow soldier. And he was your messenger to help me in my need." So this, Paul tells us, was the Philippians' most recent gift. But prior to Epaphroditus bringing Paul aid, it had been 12 years since the Philippians had last helped Paul. 12 years. Going on to verses 15 and 16. It says, "You know you Philippians were the only ones who gave me financial help when I first brought you the good news and then traveled on from Macedonia.

"No other church did this. Even when I was in Thessalonica, you sent help more than once." And again, the last time they gave Paul a monetary gift was when Paul left Macedonia. This was in Acts chapter 17 when Paul fled Berea for Athens and this was about 12 years before he wrote this book to the Philippians. 12 years.

And then Paul adds, to make sure they don't get the wrong idea about him mentioning the 12-year lapse, he says this in verse 17. "I don't say this because I want a gift from you. Rather," listen, "rather I want you to receive a reward for your kindness." Paul says, "Please, please, please don't misunderstand me. I'm not telling you this because I want a gift from you again.

"No, my joy about your gift to me does not come from what you did for me, but rather my joy is in what your gift to me will bring to you, the blessings from God." Paul says, "Your gifts to me are actually a sweet-smelling sacrificial gift to God that is very pleasing to God." And so he says, "So you Philippians, I'm not reveling in the gift you sent me. I'm reveling, what excites me is about your gift and what that means before the throne room of God."

Look in verse 18, Paul says it. "At the moment I have all I need and more. I'm generously supplied with the gifts you sent me through Epaphroditus. Listen, they are a sweet-smelling sacrifice." The gifts that they gave to Paul are a sweet-smelling sacrifice that is acceptable and pleasing to God. Paul indicates that out of this gift, God would provide for all of their needs.

Verse 19, "And this same God who takes care of me will supply all your needs from his glorious riches which have been given to us in Christ Jesus." Again a famous verse. Barclay says this, "He who gives makes himself richer for his gifts to others open to him the gifts of God." Proverbs 11:25 makes this point. "The generous will prosper. Those who refresh others will themselves be refreshed." Proverbs 11:24, "One person gives freely, yet gains even more. Another withholds unduly, but comes to poverty."

Guest (Male): That's Pastor Thom Keller on Study the Word and he's in a study of Philippians right now. Would you like to give this a second listen? Either go to our website at ccleb.com or visit our YouTube page. Simply subscribe to our channel at Calvary Chapel Lebanon and there you can watch our services live or on demand. That includes this series in Philippians.

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