Mini: Rescuing Philippians 4:13
263 | “It Takes ... Learning”
Find the Secret to Real Contentment
Is Philippians 4:13 the ultimate spiritual cheat code for winning football games and acing math tests? In this Bible Geeks Mini, we’re rescuing one of the most famous verses in the Bible from the locker room and putting it back where it belongs. We explore why Paul wasn't looking for a "Sylvester Stallone-style" triumph, but rather the strength to endure prison with peace. We dive into the "secret of contentment" — learning to be okay whether we're full or hungry, rich or poor. It turns out the true power of this verse isn't about achieving our dreams, but finding the otherworldly strength to choose joy in whatever situation we face.
Takeaways
The Big Idea: The "secret" of contentment isn't a superpower to achieve all our dreams, it's learning to find Christ's strength sufficient in all our circumstances — whether we have plenty or are in need.
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Introduction and Welcome
Ryan: That's easier to say than others,
Bryan: was just going to say, that's really easy to say, right? But
that's why it takes learning Well, hello everyone and welcome to the Bible geeks podcast. I'm Bryan Schiele
Ryan: I'm Ryan Joy.
Bryan: and thanks so much everyone for tuning in. Welcome to another Bible geeks mini on this episode.
The Misuse of Philippians 4:13
Bryan: We're going to talk about a verse that we have all seen. It's been on t-shirts. It's been on eye black on football players faces and it's been in pregame speeches.
Ryan: It's Philippians 4.13. "I can do all things through him who strengthens me." And that's the ultimate verse for winning the game. Facing the test. Getting the promotion, right?
Bryan: But what if it's not? What if it's not what Paul meant at all? Today we're geeking out on the secret of contentment by rescuing one of the most famous verses in the Bible from misuse and putting it back in its proper and
Contextualizing Philippians 4:13
Bryan: powerful context.
So I was thinking about this verse, Philippians 4 verse 13, and it's been on my mind because, as you know, we've talked about on the show a little bit, that I was teaching through Philippians with our high schoolers here back this past quarter. And just, you know, one of the most inspirational, motivational verses that got me thinking, like, where do we see this verse pop up the most?
Have you noticed Philippians 4 verse 13 showing up in interesting places for you?
Ryan: Yeah, I mean, I am a football fan and it uh... I always think of Tim Tebow's little black tape under his eye. I always had Philippians 4.13 or some other verse, but that was, you know, I think on cover of Sports Illustrated or something. I saw him with the Philippians 4.13 and um, yeah. It's just whenever you want to achieve the thing, whatever it is, you're facing something and you want to win, you win because you can do all things through Christ who strengthens you.
It's one of those verses that can easily become just like whatever we want it to be instead of taking that context into mind with
Bryan: it.
might be one of the biggest verses that call people out as being guilty of taking it out of context, right? It's like Philippians 4 verse 13 is not talking about like achieving our every whim or wish in the whole world, although boy, it sure sure can feel like that as a motivational statement. I saw this poster, you know, obviously Tim Tebow comes to mind as well.
But I saw this poster of this rock climber that was kind of like a Sylvester Stallone style cliffhanger on the poster, like hanging from one arm from the rock, you know, and it's like, Philippians 4 verse 13, I can do all things through him who strengthens me. And it's like, I don't think that's what this verse is talking about.
So I felt like maybe it'd be helpful for us to kind of debunk or as we're framing this episode, rescue Philippians 4 verse 13 from maybe misunderstanding and get into what this verse is actually talking about.
Ryan: love it. I love it. This is like a new segment for us. I'm just, you know, we're going to be bringing all the, I will give you the delight of your heart and I, you know, Jeremiah 29 and all. We've got, we've got a whole new like category to work with with this, but I think this is the right one to start with.
So how do we take this from God is going to empower you to do anything you want. It's all about achievement to putting it in proper
Bryan: Yeah, I was starting to think through how, like what the motivation for people using this verse out of context.
is, and it is kind of compelling, I think, at least for me to think about God as my co-pilot or, you know, he's helping me there while I'm on my mission to do things and he's going to empower it, he's going to make it happen.
And that's really not what Paul's talking about in this verse at all. You know, when you start to zoom out, he's talking about, I mean, he's in prison, so there's that. He's not in the most flexible and free position to just do whatever he wants. But in verse 10 of Philippians 4, he's talking about how they were worried about him and they were concerned about him, of course, because he's in prison.
The Secret of Contentment
Bryan: Verse 11, he says, "Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content." And maybe this is a better conversation to have about what it means to be content. Like what is the secret of contentment? Because that's actually where this verse is leading to when he talks about strengthening from the Lord and accomplishing things.
He starts this out with talking about contentment. And I think that's really important to see that contentment is a huge deal and also a very misunderstood idea under the American dream.
Ryan: Yeah, yeah. To be content is the opposite of ambition and shouldn't you be ambitious, right? Or contentment is the opposite of I want more and I need more and chase it down and go after everything. And it's not to say that you shouldn't have goals or you shouldn't push forward. I mean, Paul has just said in the last chapter, I press on.
Of course, he's talking spiritually, not about having a Lamborghini or something, but he is saying like, yeah, we're not satisfied in the sense of, you know, I am plateauing. I am just, I'm going to sit on my couch because I'm so content and all I'm ever going to do is just eat Cheetos here or something.
He's absolutely pushing forward. He wants to be stronger and he's going to try to accomplish more. But in whatever situation he's in, he's not feeling a lack. He's not feeling that he needs to have an anxious sense of discontent and being upset, right? About where he is being destabilized,
Bryan: Well, and that's really the whole line, I guess, through Philippians. I mean, he's intentionally choosing joy. He is intentionally choosing to see the positive aspects of his situation. And so maybe as a crescendo to that thought process here in this verse that he's content with where he is.
He can live in joy, consciously choosing, learning, having been trained to be content and live in joy in these moments. And I think for me, this talks a lot about this secret or this, I don't know, this learning that you might have to go through. I mean, it's a process to learn how to be content. It's not like you were talking about eating Cheetos on the couch or like just having no ambitions or goals.
It's about seeing where you are, the situation that you're in and understanding, look, I can be okay with this. I can be good with this. I can choose joy in this situation.
Applying Contentment in Life
Bryan: And that's where I think like part of this conversation sort of fits into our theme in this season. You know, we started off this whole season talking about joy and happiness.
And Paul is really highlighting here that, you know, he can be content. He can be okay with where he is and he's learned to become that way. And maybe that's just another way of like rescuing us from guilt. You know, that if you're not content, it may not mean that you're a bad Christian. It may just mean that you have some more learning to do, that you may have some more experience to go through to get to this point.
Because I don't think everyone comes out of the waters of baptism and immediately has this mindset from Paul that like, "Oh, I'm content now all the time." I think it's something we need to learn and almost be like initiated into this thought process.
Ryan: yeah. I mean, he's not saying that he always knew this secret. He says, I have learned in any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. And then he gives the secret in verse 13 that we keep talking about. I can do all things through him who strengthens me.
And do you think that also is completing the thought of the first section of, you know, the rest of this chapter, of chapter four, you brought up joy, but, you know, verses five and six and seven, you know, and peace and all of these other ideas?
Bryan: Yeah. He's, like I said, I think this is definitely a crescendo in this whole thought process. He's encouraged. He's connected with them. You know, he just said in verse four, "Rejoice in the Lord always," which, you know, as another sort of out of context verse, I think he's using that verse as an antidote to the potential problems that he addressed with these two women in the church who were kind of maybe at odds with each other or having difficulty or disagreement with each other.
And so, "Rejoice in the Lord always," again, I will say rejoice, I think he's bringing that up as like, this is how to solve this problem. Choose joy. And yeah, I feel like this does sort of cap off the broader discussion here in this chapter and the rest of the book even, but you know, it's interesting because you get to this verse in verse 12, and this is really like, he's not talking about achieving some big corporate success, or he's not talking about like acing a test or winning the game.
He's talking about being in different circumstances of life, being hungry or being full, having a lot versus having a little. And that's not, it's not the same context as trying to win the game or anything like
Ryan: Yeah, people love to use as a rhetorical strategy, the words "all" in the Bible or "none" in the Bible to like make the case. Well, what is not included in all? You know, what is, you know, like it sounds really good in an argument, but usually in the Bible, all doesn't mean all and none doesn't mean none. You have to like look at context all within this category of what he just said.
You don't steal a verse, like suck it out of its context and say this exists only in a poster, you know, that we put or a bumper sticker or something. It exists in a book that he is communicating something. It doesn't mean we can't do more than be content in the all things that I can do. But in context,
it certainly has to do with having contentment in these, all of these different circumstances, whatever situation he finds himself in, he can find the strength through Jesus to have this, this peace and this joy you were talking about to cast these things on him and to think the right kind of thoughts that he talks about in verse eight.
does sound like such an inspiring verse. Like you said, I can, I can, the can do attitude starts right here, right? But you want to limit it, right?
Bryan: yeah, he's really, he's honing in on two ideas here that like, I think you're saying is we can broaden it out in some deep ways and connect these things to other circumstances of life. But he is really talking about these opposites of being low versus abounding, you know, being hungry versus being full, rich versus poor, these kinds of ideas where like, all he's really attempting to do here is to tell us that it doesn't matter what his circumstances are.
I can be in prison, and I am content with that. I can be free and out, and I'm content with that. It actually highlights something that he talked about earlier in the letter, where he's like, if I die right now, great, I get to be with Jesus. If I live, great, I get to serve you as the
Ryan: Talk about any and all circumstances, dead or alive. I'm
Bryan: or alive.
And I think this is really the intention he's trying to get across. But I do think we can apply this idea to more things than just being hungry or full. Really it just, wherever we might find ourselves in life, we can be okay there. And I think that that might be the appropriate lens to broaden this out at.
Not that I can, you know, I'm going to win the game and I'm going to, like all this achievement mindset, but I do think we need to be okay, whether we're achieving something or whether someone else is achieving something and we're watching them. Or you know, whether we've come to a stockpile of food or whether we're still hungry and having a difficult time in our life, we can still choose joy and choose contentment here in these cases.
And I don't know, I think a lot for me comes out in this conversation when it comes to the poverty angle. I think like that would be the hardest thing to do, to choose joy in those moments. But what do you think about how when riches come our way, that being a struggle to choose contentment and joy? That may seem odd to say, but I think there's something deeper here when we think about the abundance angle of
Ryan: the Old Testament story of Israel, they didn't do well with prosperity. And we see that in our own lives and, whenever we have everything we need and more, that's when we not only start relying on ourselves, but we start pushing for more. And we, we, we want more.
You know, you take a kid to Disneyland and they just, I want this and I want that and I want this instead of settling in or
we can become spoiled brats sometimes with prosperity rather than whenever we get humbled and we see our need for God, sometimes that actually is easier to be content, to find that contentment because you always have to be intentional to be content.
And so it takes that mindset to pursue contentment rather than just doing what's automatic.
Bryan: You bring up the children of Israel and it is one of the things that I keep thinking about even in the same moments, like back to back in the story of them wandering before they went to the land. God presents them with a lack of food. They don't have food. Does God not know that they need food? Of course God knows that they need food, but I think he's testing them.
I think he wants to see how they'll respond. And so with a lack of food, they complain and they don't trust him. But then when they have literal raining down food every day, they just get tired of it.
I guess they're not content in that case either. And after a while, I think, you know, we really, we really see them and I think we see us having struggles at both ends of the spectrum. Will we trust God to provide for us? Or when God does provide for us, are we going to depend on him still or think to ourselves, why would I need God?
I'm accomplishing so many great things. And you know, I think it is helpful for the Tim Tebow's of the world to put Philippians 4 verse 13 on, on the tape on his face on sports illustrated or whatever. Like I think it is helpful for us to put out in front of us this mindset of God being included in our achievements and our plans.
But I guess really the context here that might be missing in that case is to really trust that no matter whether you win or lose or, you know, whatever the circumstance might be that God is still the strength source, the life source, the energy source behind
Ryan: And I think the rescue we want to do is there are other verses that talk about God helping us with other things, but here the focus of the all things is the contentment we can find in any situation through Christ who strengthens us. And if we lose the power of that verse, as Paul meant it, we're losing a tremendous promise and set source of power in our lives to find that strength.
And so we're not trying to diminish, we're trying to focus like a laser what this promise really does strengthen us to
Summarizing Philippians 4:13
Bryan: Yeah. Yeah. And maybe that is the helpful way to kind of sum this all up, wrap it all up is to think like what is, when Paul is saying, I can do.
all things through Christ who strengthens me, what is his motivation there? What is he really seeing? I think he's giving God credit when a lot of people would take credit from God away.
And that's power, right? to be able to give back to God the credit for I'm going through a difficult situation right now, but I still, no matter what, trust in you. It's almost, does it remind you of the, you know, Daniel's three friends as they were going, being thrown into the fiery furnace? However, however, God will handle this.
We don't know, but we credit him, you know, that they're almost using this same kind of of language there. Like we trust God, we know that he'll do what he needs to do.
Ryan: But if not,
like, right. The but if not faith. Yeah. Whatever he does. And that's basically the example you brought up earlier in chapter one with Paul. Maybe I'll live, maybe I'll die, whatever he does. I trust that God can deliver me. But if not, and, you know, think about chapter two, you brought up the Israelites and the problem with their attitude throughout all those testing years was constant grumbling.
God was testing them, but then they started testing God, which is not what we want to do. And the opposite of contentment is what Paul says in Philippians 2 not to do, which is to complain and argue or grumble and be contentious. So if we are content, then we're not going to be contentious with one another or with God.
We're going to embrace gratefully, accept the limits of what we have, what we do, what our life is at this moment. And know God's hand has been in it and God sees it and God is with us. And we have so much to still rejoice in and have peace in, in any circumstance we find ourselves in. That's easier to say than others,
Bryan: was just going to say, that's really easy to say, right? But
that's why it takes learning
And
Ryan: And strength from
Bryan: and strength from Christ. It's the secret and the strength, and that equals contentment. And I really think, you know, Philippians 4 verse 13 gets misused a lot, but it is not a verse about Christ giving us the superpower to achieve our dreams or to accomplish the thing or pull ourselves up by our bootstraps.
It is the secret that Christ is giving us to have this almost supernatural ability to be content in all of our circumstances, whether we're poor or rich, whether we've got good things going on or bad things. This is the reminder and boy, I'm so glad that Paul put this in here because I do think it does sum up Philippians in a really powerful way.
Ryan: Whatever we're going through, you can endure it. You can make it through and make it through with peace and know that you are secure in the Lord.
Bryan: So I don't know, maybe, maybe as we're thinking about wrapping this up, like as a challenge for the week, if you're wherever you are, I don't know where you are in your situation in life, whether you've got plenty or whether you're facing lack in some way, but whenever you find yourself either trusting in yourself or taking trust away from God, maybe it's time to ask Christ for strength and to learn the lesson that Paul is talking about here in Philippians 4 verse 13, not to change the situation, but to be content in it.
Ryan: to sum this up, I'm going to bring it back and read these powerful words going back to verse 11 of Philippians 4. "Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low and I know how to abound in any and every circumstance. I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need.
I can do all things through him who strengthens me. Amen."
Bryan: Amen.
Conclusion and Next Episode Teaser
Bryan: All right, verse rescued. On the next episode, we're really looking forward to our last episode of the season. We're going to talk about something weird at the very last one. We're going to talk about angels in our next conversation. Kind of
Ryan: think everything is weird.
Bryan: Everything in this season has been a little bit weird and we love it.
So we also love you for tuning in. Thanks so much everyone for listening along and until the next episode, everyone made the Lord bless you and keep you.
Ryan: Hello?