Able To Do All In Christ

Minister:
Date: PM
Text: Philippians 4:13
Psalters: 166, 126, 293, 200
Confession of Faith
  1. The ability.
    1. Paul declares that he ?can do? things.
      1. Paul is able to do things from a spiritual-ethical perspective, i.e., to please and honor God.
      2. It is most un-natural to keep the right perspective in the midst of prosperity or in poverty.
      3. The ?can do? is a willing submission to the glory of God for our salvation.
    2. The ?all things? refers to what is required of Christians in the context.
      1. The immediate context is the ability to be content and rejoice in any state (11,12).
      2. Further context in this chapter is that He is able to handle conflict as God would have him do so.
  2. Paul can do because of ?Christ.?
    1. Notice that it is the person: ?Christ? Who is constantly the source of this ability.
    2. And it is ?through? (literally ?in?) Christ, for each believer is found ?in Him? (3:9).
      1. By Spirit-worked faith we are in vital union and intimate fellowship with our Savior and Lord.
      2. Every member of Christ?s body is in Christ.
    3. The source out of which we can do all things is ?in Christ Who infuses me with power? (cf. I Tim. 1:12; II Tim. 4:17).
    4. Paul is able to do all this in the strength of Christ and in the power of His might.
      1. It is being aware that without Him I can do nothing good (not bear fruit).
      2. Do you say this, not as mere doctrine, but as a living truth and a spiritual reality?
  3. This becomes a blessed experience.
    1. Paul makes this as a personal confession (not just a statement of fact or of doctrinal truth).
    2. How do we learn this?
      1. First, by learning (and re-learning) that outside of Christ we can do nothing right.
      2. By loving Him Who loved us so much first, and then, out of love, striving to do what He wants.
    3. To know we are in Christ fills us with peace. We are more than conquerors.