It's always a good sound, isn't it?
The pitter-patter of little feet running out of Sunday school, praise God.
Just a huge thank you for all your care and your support over the years.
So not only while we were here, myself and Maeve, as part of the congregation,
but we really have felt and known your love and your prayers from afar geographically,
and so we just want to express our thanks and our love and our care.
There's been loads of good reasons for us to feel glad as we've come back to Cork,
but certainly one of the main ones has just been able to reconnect with people here in the church family.
So thank you so much for that.
We're going to look at the letter of Paul to the Philippians.
And so I invite you to open your Bibles to chapter 4 of the letter to the Philippians.
And if you're using the Red Church Bible, it's on page 1181.
So 1181 if you're using the Red Church Bible.
Let's take a moment just to ask for God's help as we look at his word together.
Heavenly Father, thank you that this is your word to us this morning,
and thank you that the unfolding of your word gives light.
And Father, as we read it and as we hear from it, we ask that you would be at work in each of us.
Father, that you would be making us more like Christ or drawing us to Christ in the first place.
And Father, we pray that in your kindness you would continue the good work that you've begun in us through your word to us this morning.
Amen.
So we'll read from verse 10 to verse 13 of Philippians chapter 4.
Paul writes,
In John's Gospel, Jesus says that he does not pray for his followers to be taken out of the world.
He does not pray for his followers to be taken out of the world.
And the reality of trusting in Jesus, following Jesus in this world,
doesn't remove us from what's going on in the world,
the circumstances of life that everybody else faces.
We face all the ups and downs,
all the joyful times and all the difficult times
that everybody else faces as well.
And a question for us,
as we look at this section of God's word together,
is how do we cope?
So how do we cope with
the times when we're going through hardship
or grief?
How do we cope when we can't find work?
How do we cope when we can't find friends?
How do we cope when people disappoint us or let us down?
How do we cope if we're struggling at school
or in our neighbourhood?
Or how do we cope when life is going well?
Isn't it strange that sometimes it's when we have plenty
that we struggle to cope?
You've all heard of the lotto winners
who've thrown it all away
within a short space of time
because they cannot handle having plenty.
And for us, sometimes it's when we have plenty of money,
plenty of food, plenty of work,
plenty of rest
that it's actually difficult to handle,
difficult to cope.
Well, Paul tells us in verse 11
that he has learned how to do this.
He says in verse 11,
I have learned to be content
whatever the circumstances.
Or in verse 12, halfway through,
I have learned the secret of being content
in any and every situation.
Now, when Paul says that he has learned to be content,
he's not telling us that he's able to walk around
with a false smile on his face
regardless of what's going on in life.
What he is telling us is that he has found the resources
that he needs to be able to face all that life throws at him,
whether that's going through a high or going through a low.
And it is hard to be content, isn't it?
All the time.
And yet this is what Paul says to us here in verse 11.
And the reason he's telling us
that he has learned to be content
is not to boast to us,
but so that we too might learn contentment.
So we're just going to think,
first of all,
about how contentment is something that we need to learn.
So you see that Paul says in verse 11,
I have learned to be content.
And in verse 12,
I have learned the secret of being content.
So sometimes,
or some things when we become a Christian,
when we walk with Jesus first,
we get them straight away, don't we?
So we're forgiven.
We're made a child of God.
We're justified before him.
So we're assured of our place,
our position before him as a forgiven sinner.
But some things we have to learn.
And one of those is contentment.
We have to learn contentment.
I remember when I was learning to play the piano.
And when you're learning to play the piano,
or anything else for that matter in life,
there can be times when it's easy,
and you're encouraged.
And there can be times when it's difficult,
and you're struggling.
It feels impossible.
You think you're making no progress.
Sometimes it feels like you're going backwards.
And when it comes to learning contentment,
it can be like that, can't it?
So one day we face all that life throws at us really, really well,
and the next,
it's not just that life throws this at us,
but we are thrown by it.
We need to learn to be content.
And it's understandable that this is something that we need to learn,
because, as I mentioned earlier,
it's not that we're plucked out of the world as God's people,
but we live in the world.
That was the reality for Paul.
Paul was in prison, wasn't he?
So he was writing this letter from prison.
He was dependent on other people to supply his needs.
So in prison in the first century,
he relied on other people outside of prison,
friends or family members,
or in the case of Paul,
his church family to provide for his needs.
And so if they forgot to bring him round a meal,
he went hungry.
And he says that in verse 10,
I rejoiced greatly in the Lord that at last you renewed your concern for me.
Of course he did.
Because they've provided what he's needed.
But he has known what it is to be hungry and to be well-fed.
He says that at the end of verse 12,
whether well-fed or hungry,
he has learned to be content.
Now, if Paul was anything like me,
hunger and contentment did not exist at the same time.
For me, if I'm hungry,
contentment is something that I'm not experiencing.
But Paul says that he has learned to be content.
It's not only understandable that we need to learn contentment
because of the world we live in,
but it's also because of the hunger and the want that we feel.
And it might not just be because of hunger for food.
It can be a hunger for other things as well.
It can be a longing for something.
A longing for change in somebody's life that we know.
And actually, sometimes we need to learn contentment
because we are well-fed
and because life is going really well.
Isn't it strange at Christmas when the kids open the presents,
when they have more than they could ever have dreamed of,
that about five minutes later they're dreaming of more?
Making the list for the birthday?
Isn't that what goes on in our hearts?
When we have plenty
is often the time when we are least content.
And so this is something we need to learn,
not just when we are going through times of want and hunger,
but when we are in times of being fed and in plenty.
And that's a comfort to us.
That's an encouragement that the Apostle Paul needed to learn this,
and we too need to learn this.
What we want to see, secondly,
is that we have strength in Jesus
to face every circumstance.
This is what Paul says in verse 13,
I can do all this through him who gives me strength.
So in other words,
I can face all the ups and downs in life
with contentment
through Jesus
who gives me strength.
Now Paul is acknowledging here
that we need strength
because life is hard.
What would some of the voices around us tell us
of how to respond when life gets hard?
Well, the multinational company Nike,
what would they tell us?
Just do it.
And on a Monday morning,
I say to Nike,
but Nike, I can't just do it.
I'm not able.
I don't have the strength to face this day or this week.
Barack Obama would say,
well, yes, we can.
And you think, well, what if we can't?
What if we don't have it within ourselves
to face what life is throwing at me
or at us right now?
Paul says clearly that we need strength,
but it's not in ourselves that we find strength.
It's not in ourselves that we find the resources we need.
He says in verse 10,
it is through him,
that is through Jesus or in Jesus
that we find strength.
Paul was in prison.
Paul was in need.
Paul was in hunger.
Paul was in want.
Paul, I'm sure,
was probably in the cold
in the evening times.
He was in a difficult situation.
He was in all these places.
But for Paul,
the most important place that he was,
was in Christ.
And for you and I,
as those who walk with Jesus,
the most important place we are is in Christ.
We are united to Jesus.
And that, Paul says,
is what gives us strength.
We don't find strength in ourselves.
We don't find resources in ourselves.
We find it in Jesus.
It is in Jesus that we receive strength.
We're just going to think about the two,
two of the ways in which we find strength in Jesus,
to face every circumstance,
to be content in every circumstance.
We find strength in Jesus in his death.
So for Paul, and for us,
we find strength in Jesus in his death.
Because as a believer,
we have died in Jesus.
We have died with Jesus.
We have died to the power of sin.
Sin is no longer our master.
We can say no to sin.
We don't do it perfectly,
but we can say no to sin.
I remember when I was in college,
before I was walking,
following Jesus,
I couldn't go out without drinking too much.
And when I wasn't going out,
I wanted to go out,
regardless of who was out.
It wasn't about the person I was with.
When I started walking with Jesus,
I realized I can actually say no.
This doesn't have to control me.
I can say no.
And guess what?
Realizing that I had died with Christ,
and I could say no to sin,
actually led me to contentment.
That I didn't have to keep saying yes.
In the letters of the Philippians,
Paul speaks about people who are ruled by their belly,
whose God is their belly,
that they cannot say no to their belly.
Paul says he is not ruled by his belly.
He's able to be content even if he's really hungry.
Or look what he says in verse 11.
I'm not saying this because I am in need.
So he is in need,
but that's not why he's saying it.
Look at verse 17.
He says,
Not that I desire your gifts.
So for Paul,
he is in need,
but he's not in want.
So he says,
I don't desire your gifts.
He needs them,
but he doesn't want them.
Because he's not allowing himself
to be controlled
by his belly,
by his needs.
He's able to say no.
This isn't going to be what
what I find contentment in.
You see,
the reality is,
very often,
we can make a bad
or a difficult situation worse
by saying yes.
But Paul doesn't allow that to happen.
He knows that he can say no to sin,
and he does.
And if we have died with Christ,
we too can say no to sin.
It's not only that we have died to sin,
but we have died to ourselves.
We have died to ourselves with Christ.
John read for us
Philippians chapter 2.
Philippians chapter 2
is this wonderful truth
about who Jesus is.
That though he was in the very nature of God,
he did not consider equality with God.
He'd be grasped.
He wasn't selfish,
self-seeking,
self-serving.
He came to serve others.
And that is the pattern for us as Christians,
that we die to ourselves.
If you flick back to Philippians chapter 2,
verse 4,
just for a moment,
in Philippians chapter 2,
verse 4,
Paul says,
we're not to look out
for our own interests only,
but each of us are to look
to the interests of others.
What is that?
That is dying to self
in order to serve others.
And we see this
reflected in Philippians
the whole way through.
We see Epaphroditus.
Epaphroditus is a guy who is sick.
And when he's sick,
he's not just thinking about himself
and his sickness,
he's thinking about others.
In chapter 3,
verse 26,
it says,
sorry,
not chapter 3,
verse 26,
chapter 2,
verse 26,
it says,
Epaphroditus longs for all of you
and is distressed
because you heard he was ill.
What's going on with Epaphroditus?
He is sick
and he's more concerned
that they are worried about him
than he is about his own sickness.
He's following that pattern
of dying to self,
being more concerned for others
than he is for himself.
And guess what?
That leads to contentment.
When we realize
that we have died with Christ,
that we are dying to sin,
dying to ourselves,
it leads to contentment
because it isn't all about us.
We are able to look out
for the needs of others.
It's not only that we are
in Christ and his death,
but we are also in Christ
and his resurrection.
Paul highlights this
in chapter 3,
verse 10.
He says,
I want to know Christ.
Yes,
to know the power
of his resurrection.
When Paul says he wants to know
the power of Christ's resurrection,
he's using the same word
that he uses in chapter 4
when he says,
I can do all things through him
who strengthens me,
who empowers me.
There is power
for the believer
in the resurrection of Jesus.
It's not only that we die
to sin and die to self,
but that we live
to God.
We have been raised
with Jesus.
We have been given
new life in him.
Not yet physically,
though that will one day
be the case,
that our physical bodies
will be raised,
but we've become
spiritually alive
to God.
Spiritually responsive
to God.
to his word,
to his voice
in the Bible.
This microphone,
if I was to switch it off,
it would not be responsive
to my voice.
It would be dead
to my voice.
But because it is on,
because it is live,
it is responding
to my voice.
It is, in a sense,
hearing my voice.
And for the Christian,
for those who have
trusted in Christ
and are united to him
in his resurrection,
we are alive to God.
We can respond
to his voice.
We can do what
he calls us to do.
That's what happens
to us
in Christ.
There is real
and substantial
power for us
in the fact
that we are alive
to God.
Not perfectly.
Paul says
in chapter 3,
verse 12,
not that I've already
obtained all this,
but there is power
for us
because we have been
raised with Christ.
Strength to do
and to face
any and every circumstance,
the highs and the lows.
How does that work?
Well, one of the ways
in which that works
is because
the resurrection
of Jesus,
the fact that
he is risen
and we will be
raised with him
is a banner
over our lives.
This is the way
things will one day be.
I remember watching
a New Zealand rugby match
and
they won!
Believe it or not.
And at the end
of the match,
one of the
the crowds,
one of the supporters
had this big banner up,
never in doubt.
I don't know
whether they had
the banner up
at the start
of the match,
but for the Christian,
there is a banner up
from the start
of your life
with Christ
all the way through
that says
never in doubt.
And that banner
is the resurrection
of Jesus.
He has been raised
and we have been
raised with him.
We are alive
to God,
alive to his voice.
Now what that means
for us
is that as we face
the highs and lows
of life,
that we can actually
live for him,
that we can live
to him,
that we can be
responsive to his word
even when we are
really struggling.
he enables us
to do that.
We don't buy
into the lie
that we are dead,
that we can't respond,
that we can't live
for him.
Because we have been
made alive with him,
we can live for him.
Whether we are
in a time of plenty,
plenty of food,
plenty of friends,
plenty of work,
plenty of time
in our hands,
or whether we are
in a time of want,
when we are in want
of food,
or friends,
or time,
or money,
the question for us
is now that I have
been raised with Christ,
how do I live
for him
in this circumstance?
This might have been
a very different letter,
the letter to the
Philippians.
It's often known
as the epistle of joy
or the letter of joy.
It could easily have been
the epistle of discontent.
Paul could have began
and said,
I can't believe
you've forgotten
about me.
And another thing
I'm really unhappy with
is the Roman bureaucracy.
Where is my paperwork?
Why am I still in prison?
Do you know how hungry I am?
Do you know how sore
these chains are
on my hands?
And he could have gone
on and on and on
in discontent.
But he doesn't.
It's a letter of great joy.
Not a smile plastered
on his face
in fakeness,
but deep content.
His circumstances
are very, very difficult.
He's not denying that.
And like the psalmists,
I'm sure
that there were times
when he wept,
cried out to God.
Why is this happening?
And yet,
because he had died
with Christ,
because he was raised
with Christ,
he was able to die
to self,
die to sin,
and live for God
in what he was going through.
And guess what was happening?
His guards
heard about Jesus.
Other Christians
were encouraged
to speak about Jesus.
There are people
in Caesar's household,
he says,
at the end of the letter,
who have become believers.
And on and on it goes.
Paul is able to see
the pattern of Jesus,
the power of Jesus,
the death
and the resurrection
of Jesus,
shaping believers,
shaping him,
shaping the community.
community.
And that gives him
great reason
for contentment.
I don't know
how you look
into the future.
What I generally
tend to do
is I tend to think
that I know
what's going to happen
in the days ahead.
If you ask me afterwards,
I can tell you
what I think
is going to happen
this week.
I have it mapped
out in my mind
Monday morning,
Wednesday afternoon,
Thursday evening.
Guess what?
I have no clue.
I have absolutely
no idea
what's going to happen.
Sometimes what we expect
and what happens,
they're exactly aligned.
But sometimes
we face circumstances
that we never
saw coming.
Grief that we
never anticipated.
life seems to
throw something
at us
that we just
couldn't have imagined.
Paul wants us
to realize
that through
all of life's
ups and downs
we have opportunity
to learn
contentment.
And it's not easy.
It can be
really tough at times.
But what he wants
us to stay
fixed on,
stay focused on
is that we are
in Christ,
that we have died
with him.
We can say
no to sin,
no to self,
and that we've
been raised
with him.
That we can
respond to what
God is calling
us to do
in every
circumstance
of life.
To look out
for others,
to care for
those around us,
to be concerned
for the needs
of others,
following the
pattern that we
have in Jesus
who gave
himself for us.
let's take a
moment to pray
and to ask
God's help
as we learn
this.
Heavenly
Father,
thank you that
you are carefully
in control of
all things,
all of life's
ups and downs,
all of our
joys and
delights,
all of our
griefs and
heartaches.
things.
Father,
we know
in our own
minds and in
our own
hearts,
Lord,
that we can
often be
thrown and
shaken by the
circumstances of
life.
We can often
lose our
focus on
Christ and
we can
often,
Lord,
be more
concerned about
ourselves.
Father,
we pray in
your kindness
that you'd
help us to
learn contentment
even as we
face the
highs and
lows of
life,
that our
primary concern
would be to
live out of
this truth
that we are
in Christ,
that we have
died with
him and
have been
raised with
him.
Father,
we pray that
you'd
strengthen us
to do that
this week.
In Jesus'
name,
Amen.
We're going
to sing in
response to
what we've
been thinking
about.
We're going
to sing
You Are My
Strength When
I Am Weak.
So I invite
you to stand
and join us
as we sing.