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Christian Network The Sermons of The Revd Stuart D Rogerson

These are notes only, perhaps you will find them useful

SUMMARY:

1. I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances

I am so satisfied with the wise providence and goodness of God, that I know whatever he determines is the best; and therefore I am perfectly contented that he should govern the world in that way which seems best to his godly wisdom. How true is the proverb, A contented mind is a continual feast! What do we get by murmuring and complaining?

The Key is TRUSTing in God

I can do everything through him who gives me strength

It was not a habit which he had acquired by frequent exercise, it was a disposition which he had by grace; and he was enabled to do all by the power of an indwelling Christ. Through Him who strengtheneth me

The Key is KNOWING GOD - a personal relationship

Blessed is the Giver

v17:

Not that I am looking for a gift but I am looking for what may be credited to your account.

I do not speak thus to incite you to send me a farther gift; I speak this on the general subject, because I wish you to bear such fruit as shall abound to your account in the day of the Lord.

The Key here is knowing what God has done for you…. His Gift leads to our giving….

I do not speak thus to incite you to send me a farther gift; I speak this on the general subject, because I wish you to bear such fruit as shall abound to your account in the day of the Lord.
The Key is knowing we are REDEE

Verse 11. Not that I speak in respect of want— I am quite unconcerned in

this respect; leaving the whole of my support, while bound for the

testimony of Jesus, to the providence of God.

For I have learned— I am so satisfied with the wise providence and

goodness of God, that I know whatever he determines is the best; and

therefore I am perfectly contented that he should govern the world in that

way which seems best to his godly wisdom. How true is the proverb, A

contented mind is a continual feast! What do we get by murmuring and

complaining?

Verse 12. I know-how to be abased— I have passed through all these

states; I know how to conduct myself in each, and how to extract good

from all. And he had passed through these things, especially the hardships, so that he had learned the lesson perfectly, as the word emuhmai implies; he was thoroughly instructed; fully initiated into all the mysteries of poverty and want, and of the supporting hand of God in the whole. See here the state to which God permitted his chief apostle to be reduced! And see how powerfully the grace of Christ supported him under the whole!

How few of those who are called Christian ministers or Christian men

have learned this important lesson! When want or affliction comes, their

complaints are loud and frequent; and they are soon at the end of their

patience.

Verse 13. I can do all things— It was not a habit which he had acquired

by frequent exercise, it was a disposition which he had by grace; and he

was enabled to do all by the power of an indwelling Christ. Through Him

who strengtheneth me is the reading of some of the best MSS., versions,

and fathers; the word cristw, Christ, being omitted.

Verse 14. Ye have well done— Though I have learned all these important lessons, and am never miserable in want, yet ye have done well in sending me relief in the time of affliction.

Verse 15. In the beginning of the Gospel— When, having preached to

you, I went forth into Macedonia, I received help from none of the

Churches which I had founded, but from you alone. I received nothing from any others, and nothing was offered me.

Verse 16. For even in Thessalonica— While labouring to plant the

Church there, he was supported partly by working with his hands, 1

Thessalonians 2:9; 2 Thessalonians 3:7-9; and partly by the contributions

sent him from Philippi. Even the Thessalonians had contributed little to

his maintenance: this is not spoken to their credit.

Verse 17. Not because I desire a gift— I do not speak thus to incite you

to send me a farther gift; I speak this on the general subject, because I wish you to bear such fruit as shall abound to your account in the day of the Lord.

Verse 18. I have all— Ye have now sent me so much by Epaphroditus,

that I abound in all the necessaries of life.

Having received-the things— Probably a supply of clothes and such like

necessaries, as well as of money.

An odor of a sweet smell— Alluding to the sacrifices offered up under the law. With what ye have done to me, his servant, God is well pleased. See Ephesians 5:2, and the note there.

Verse 19. My God shall supply all your need— As you have given to me

in my distress, God will never suffer you to want without raising up help

to you, as he raised you up for help to me.

According to his riches— His fullness is infinite; and through Christ,

whose followers we are, he will dispense every requisite blessing of

providence, grace, and glory, to you.

Verse 20. Now unto God and our Father— God is our Father in Christ

Jesus; and such pity as a father hath for his children, such has the Lord for

them that fear him; as a father is concerned for the support and life of his

children, so is God concerned for you. A father may be poor, and unable

to help his most beloved children; God, your Father, is infinite in his

riches of his grace and glory, and out of his abundance we have all received, and grace for grace. Therefore, to God our Father, be glory for ever and ever!

Verse 21. Salute every saint— Remember to present my affectionate

wishes to every Christian at Philippi.

The brethren which are with me— Those who were fellow laborers with

him, generally supposed to be Aristarchus, Mark, Justus, Epaphras, Luke,

and Demas. See the end of the epistles to the Colossians, and to Philemon.

Verse 22. All the saints— All the Christians now at Rome.

They that are of Caesar’s household.— Nero was at this time emperor of

Rome: a more worthless, cruel, and diabolic wretch never disgraced the

name or form of man; yet in his family there were Christians: but whether

this relates to the members of the imperial family, or to guards, or

courtiers, or to servants, we cannot tell. If even some of his slaves were

converted to Christianity, it would he sufficiently marvellous. Converts to

Christianity in this family there certainly were; and this shows how

powerfully the Divine word had been preached and spread. That the

Empress Poppaea may have been favourably inclined to Christianity is

possible; for Josephus relates of her, Antiq., lib. xx. cap. 7: qeosebhv gar

hn? She was a worshipper of the true God; it is not likely, therefore, that

she threw any hinderances in the way of her servants who might wish to

embrace the Christian faith. St. Jerome, in Philemon, states that St. Paul

had converted many in Caesar’s family; A Caesare missus in carcerem,

notior familiae ejus factus, persecutoris Christi domum fecit ecclesiam.

"Being by the emperor cast into prison, he became the more known to his

family, and he turned the house of Christ’s persecutor into a church."

Some imagine that Seneca, the preceptor of Nero and the poet Lucan, were converted by St. Paul; and there are still extant, and in a MS. now before me, letters which profess to have passed between Paul and Seneca; but they are worthy of neither. They have been printed in some editions of Seneca’s works. See the remarks below.

Verse 23. The grace of our Lord— The usual apostolical benediction,

which has often occurred, and been more than once explained. See on

Romans 1:7, and Galatians 6:18. The word hmwn, our, is omitted by many

MSS. and several versions, which simply read, The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Be with you all.— Instead of pantwn, all, pneumatov, Spirit, is the

reading of ADEFG, several others, with the Coptic, Sahidic, AEthiopic,

Armenian, Vulgate, and Itala; besides several of the Fathers.

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