Coming out of Bethany one morning, Jesus’ disciples were hungry, but they saw a fig tree off in the distance. With their mouths watering, when they came up to the tree, they found that it was fruitless. The Lord Jesus then said to it, “No man eat fruit of thee hereafter for ever.” Then they all went into Jerusalem, where they spent the day, returning to Bethany late that night. The next morning they passed that same fruitless tree and found it totally dried up and dead. Peter said, “Master, behold the fig tree which thou cursedst is withered away.” “And Jesus answering saith unto them, Have faith in God.” I cursed and destroyed this tree to teach you something. “For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith. Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.”
The false prophets of the “Prosperity Gospel,” have used Christ’s statement to teach their “name it and claim it” heresy. They say, if your faith is strong as their’s, you can have whatever you want. And if you verbalize your desires with enough faith, you can have or do anything. Just “blab it and grab it.” That sort of thing may be easy to say, and many foolish people believe it. But, during your lifetime, how many mountains have you seen instantly moved into the sea? Has history ever recorded a literal fulfilment of this promise? I have seen trees die relatively quickly, but how many, in 24 hours, dried up from the roots? The death of that particular fig tree was a negative miracle, because that was the will of the Son of God. In that there is an unspoken, but obvious caveat attached to the mountain moving – if it is God’s will. “When ye pray” properly, you must submit and surrender that request to the Lord. If it is God’s will, miracles will take place in your life – but it must be the Lord’s will. Many of the things the Holy Spirit tells us in His Word, come to us in a limited context – surrendered faith. Context always matters.
What would you think of a person who said that he could fly to the moon without a rocket or space craft? Wouldn’t you think he was either joking or insane? Even NASA astronauts have to have an Apollo or Artemis craft in which to fly. What would think about the sanity of the person who said that he could swim from Seattle to Tokyo?
What should we think of a person who says, “I can do ALL THINGS through Christ which strengtheneth me”? As Christians we have been trained to believe what we read in the Bible. But isn’t this a staggering statement? This contains a statement of ultimate triumph – “ALL things.” But let’s not neglect the context – “Though Christ.” Paul never shies away from boasting in the Lord. “God forbid that I should glory save in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.” “He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.” But what does Philippians 4:13 and its “all things,” say about Paul’s ability to swim to Japan? Nothing. Is he telling us that rather than climbing over that mountain pass to his next preaching place, he plans to level the road by casting that mountain into the sea? Did he ever do that? What would you think of Paul’s sanity if he said, “I think I’ll swim from Troas to Tarshish this afternoon?” “Paul, thou art beside thyself; much learning doth make thee mad.” On the other hand, what if he said, “If Christ wanted me to swim to Tarshish, then I would be able to swim to Tarshish.”
“I can do ALL THINGS through Christ which strengtheneth me”? What does the little word “can” suggest? It is called a “modal auxiliary verb” because it assists the primary verb, which in this case is “do.” Rather than doing whatever he wanted to do, Paul was saying that he potentially could do anything. And, in fact, he could do everything that the Lord empowered him to do. “I am made strong enough to do all the things for which Christ infuses strength into me.” But had Christ made him strong enough to swim to Tarshish to preach the gospel to the Spanish people?
It is absolutely essential to keep Biblical statements within their context. What is the context of Paul’s boast in the Lord? “I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content. In Christ’s strength he was perfectly capable of being content in every situation. “I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.” Last week, I asked the question: “Do you suppose that Paul had always been content?” Do you suppose that he became a contented and satisfied man at the moment of his conversion? What did he do to become content? He lived the lessons of life under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Over time, he learned some things about himself and about the Lord.
The word “instructed” in verse 12 is quite interesting in the original. It is “mueo” ( moo-eh’-o ), and it refers to being initiated into some sort of mystery. Of course, learning anything new is an initiation into a mystery. But sometimes this kind of terminology takes us into a higher plain – a mystical or spiritual plain. Paul had been initiated, not into the power of the Lord, but into an understanding of that power.
The reason that Paul was able to live above his circumstances, was due to the infusion of the power of Christ. Christ is all-sufficient for every circumstance, for every eventuality, for every possibility. It wasn’t that Paul had been initiated into some Christian philosophy, which only a prominent internet blogger can reach. Rather, the Lord had “instructed” him in some of the special aspects of the Christian life.
Christ is the vital force of the Christian life. This is what Paul has been saying throughout this letter. “Being confident of this very thing, that HE which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.” “It is GOD which worketh in you to will and to do of his good pleasure.” “That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings…” This is Paul’s theme throughout all his writings. Ephesians – “That you may know… what is the exceeding greatness of his power to usward…” “We are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works…” “We are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the hief corner stone…” Paul had become a Christian who possesseed the life of Christ in the depths of his soul, to the point he “could do all the things the Lord wants me to do, strengthened by His might.”
One of the differences between Bible Christianity and pseudo-Christianity can be seen in the approach of their disciples to these “all things.” They often want to fix the problems of the world in the same way they try to fix the problems in themselves. The Prosperity Gospeler quotes only the first part of the verse: “I can do all things…” The Christian quotes the entire verse, with emphasis on the second half – “I can do all things through CHRIST which strengtheneth me”?
Both the true Christian and the false may recognize the problems and sins that are in himself and in the world. But the difference between them can be seen in the solutions for those problems. The pseudo-Christian and the weak Christian deal with the symptoms and surface problems. They want to change governments and enact and enforce secular moral laws. They want to put Islam in its Middle East Box; Hinduism in its Indian Box, and animism on a reservation. They want to either execute the criminal or at the very least lock him up. They want to feed the hungry, so that they don’t cause trouble for the wealthy. They focus on educating the ignorant and improving society according to their patterns. There is nothing wrong with some of these ideas; some of these are reasonably good suggestions.
But the Biblical response to evil is not societal, national or international. And the proper response to the sin within us isn’t greater resolve not to do it again. The Biblical solution to sin and its effects is personal salvation and surrender to the Almighty God. When our neighbors refuse our witness of our Saviour and the gospel, our response can’t a legislative or physical attack upon them. Our response is within ourselves: “I have learned in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.” And I can be content in midst of this messy world through Christ which strengthens me.
This verse begins and ends with Paul’s own personal pronouns – “I” and “me.” Between them is “Christ,” and it is in Christ where we find victory and success in our “all things.” But let’s not forget those personal pronouns. The Christian life is not a life that I live myself and by my own power. Neither is it a life in which I am obliterated and Christ does everything. Let me use bringing a devotion on Sunday morning as an illustration. Is teaching the Word of God a Christian thing to do? There are times when the teacher falls on his face and begs the Lord for empowerment. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that. But if he really wants power to change hearts, then he has to get his Bible out and study. He has to prepare his message; he needs to make sure that every statement is Biblical. He needs to try to find illustrations that work, logic that flows and conclusions that mean something. The presentation of a devotional or the preaching of a sermon is the work of a man of God, who is willing to let the Lord empower the effort that he puts into that work.
Paul said in verse 4 – “Rejoice in the Lord always; and again I say, Rejoice.” Could there have been, lurking in the shadows, a demon of depression? Couldn’t the specter of Paul’s execution have made a brother or two to be a little sad? Couldn’t it even have negatively affected Paul? Potentially so, but, “I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.” “I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound…” The Lord wants both the pulpit and the pew, the preacher and the parishioner to live victoriously. And we can. “We can do ALL (these) THINGS through Christ which strengtheneth us.” We can be self-sufficient in a Christian sort of way, when “through Christ, we can do all things.”