Dear Church: You Can Do All Things | 9/27/26

• Reflection Questions

  1. When you hear "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me," do you tend to hear it more as a promise of victory or as a word for enduring hard seasons? How might that change the way you lean on it?

  2. Are you more of a "microwave" person or a "marinade" person when it comes to your faith, looking for quick fixes or willing to let things soak in slowly over time? What would it look like to shift toward the marinade approach?

  3. What daily or weekly practices, like prayer, Scripture reading, or gathering with others, are actually helping your roots grow deep right now? What's missing?

  4. What's currently filling the background noise of your life, news, social media, constant scrolling, and how do you think it's shaping your spirit, for better or worse?

  5. How does it change things for you to remember that "the Lord is near," not far off or distant, but close enough to be present in your actual, everyday moments?

Transcript:

You know, I reckon that there is not a place on the earth that knows the cultural footprint of Philippians chapter four quite like right here in Gainesville, Florida. Let me explain. If you were watching college football back in 2008, which I reckon most of you were, when the Florida Gators went all the way to the national championship, you will remember the image of Tim Tebow stepping onto the field with black under his eyes, and written in white paint across those black strips was the Scripture reference. Philippians 4:13. Now, during that season, millions of people searched for that verse online to find out what it was. It was a remarkable expression of public witness. And to this day, Tim Tebow is rightly honored, not just for his athletic gifts and prowess, but also for his character and for his faith and for his unashamed love of Jesus.

Now, in the years since, culture, some T-shirt companies, sports culture, they have all taken this single line of Scripture which says, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me," and they've kind of turned it into a Christian pep rally slogan. We've turned it into this chant for winning the game, or for closing the deal, or for achieving our personal goals. Now, if you had told the Apostle Paul, as he sat in his prison cell all those years ago, that the words he was writing to his friends in Philippi would one day be used as a pregame hype slogan for athletic victory, well, he probably would have had a giggle. Because when Paul writes about the strength to do all things, he's definitely not standing on a championship podium. He is facing uncertainty. He is in chains. He is in a time of hardship. For Paul, doing all things isn't always about winning. It is about having the spiritual depth and capacity to endure, to stand firm, and to remain content in every season of life.

So as we close out our journey through Paul's letter to the Philippians today, we're going to listen to these very familiar words from Philippians chapter four with fresh ears.

Dear church, rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice. Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. As for the things that you have learned and received and heard and noticed in me, do them, and the God of peace will be with you. I can do all things through him who strengthens me.

My friends, this is the Word of God for the people of God. And we say together, thanks be to God.

It is such a strong statement of unshakable strength that Paul makes in verse 13 of that reading, isn't it? I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Now, to understand how he can say that with such strength, today we're actually going to have to reverse our way back through the whole passage to mine out what is lying underneath. We live in a culture that craves instant results. We want the strength without the strain. We want the finish line without the training. We want to deeply and with assured confidence say that we can do all things through Christ who gives us strength, but we don't always as much want the daily practices that are needed to get us to that place.

In 1999, the United Methodist pastor, academic, and author Doctor Leonard Sweet wrote a book called Soul Tsunami, in which he wrote these words. He said, we are a microwave people, but we need to be a marinade people. He was critiquing this broader cultural movement into the digital age. He argued that for people of faith, this fast-paced, instant-gratification tech culture that was developing had to be countered with an intentional, slow-soaking marinade lifestyle that would allow the soul to absorb and hold truth over time.

Now, I think if we are honest with ourselves, we do want a microwave faith. Yes, yes we do. Be honest with yourself. We want to press a button with 30 seconds and have instant spiritual maturity, instant peace, instant strength to face the crisis that hits. But spiritual strength does not work like a microwave. It doesn't. It works like a marinade, in that it takes time to soak in deeply.

Paul understood this entirely. The secret to his strength in verse 13 is not some sudden, magical burst of divine adrenaline when trouble had come into his life. No, no, no. The secret to verse 13 is actually found in the verses before. Take a look at verse nine, where he says, keep on doing the things that you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, and the God of peace will be with you.

Paul is talking about building spiritual strength bit by bit over time. He's talking about what we in the church today call the means of grace. Would you put up your hand if you've ever heard that phrase, means of grace? Okay, about half of us. Maybe. The means of grace are the means by which we experience God's grace. They are the steady, quiet, unglamorous daily practices of faith. Things like the regular rhythm of opening up the Scriptures, of gathering at the Lord's Table as often as we can with the Christian community, works of mercy and works of justice among our neighbors, the quiet habits of daily prayer that we cultivate.

When we are attending to these things, we are deepening the roots of our lives so that when life falls apart, or when that difficulty comes, when the medical diagnosis comes, or when the relationship fractures, or when the financial storm hits, well, you don't just magically rise to the occasion somehow. You are able then to fall back on your training, which has pushed the roots of your life deep down into Christ, in such a way that none of those storms can ever overcome you.

My friends, this is right in our DNA as Methodists. In fact, the early followers of John Wesley's movement were called Methodists precisely because of the steady habits of their Christian practice. Those habits, these means of grace, were their method of marinating in God's love. The Apostle Paul was able to write those words, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me, because he had spent time marinating in the presence of God. His roots ran deep. And in verse nine he invites us to this very practice, so that we can sink those roots deep.

Then, verse eight, remember we're reversing here, shows us where that process actually begins. Look at where Paul moves as we take another step back in our passage. He says, finally, beloved, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.

Paul is talking about mental discipline. He's talking about how we curate our inner world. And I think about the environment that we live in today. I mean, it is constant noise, isn't it? Constant noise. Twenty-four-hour news cycles. Algorithms. Social media feeds that are designed specifically to keep us angry and anxious and afraid. And most of us here know that it is not good for our minds, that whole cultural environment. And yet we keep going back to it day after day, don't we?

Now, I know this battle firsthand. For a long time, I used to keep the news running in the background for most of every day. Margaret hated it. She hated it, but I persisted. I persisted in the name of staying informed. It was always just there, a constant stream of commentary and political friction and global crisis, just humming away while I was going about doing my things. And without even realizing it, that background noise in my life was actually shaping my spirit. And let me tell you, it wasn't doing it in a good way.

I eventually had to hit the reset button. I had to make an intentional choice to turn off that background noise in my life. And then after that, I had to make another intentional choice to make my daily devotional time an unshakable, non-negotiable priority, every single morning, before I would allow anything else to speak into my day. And honestly, my friends, the combination of those two things has been a complete game changer in my life, in terms of my own experience of the gospel and in terms of my ability to stay focused on what matters and the things that I am called to do day by day.

Once again, Paul is very gently holding up a mirror for the Philippian church, and to us, and he's asking this: what are you allowing to saturate your mind? What are you allowing to saturate your mind?

You can't marinate your spirit in the peace of God if you spend 23 hours a day glued to a screen, hearing about the outrage and fear in this world. What feeds your mind will eventually shape your heart. Now, don't get me wrong, don't get me wrong, it is still a very good thing to be suitably and reliably informed about what is going on in the world. Paul is not asking us to stick our heads in the sand and to ignore the real pain and the real injustice of the world around us, but he is inviting us to filter it well. He is saying, fill your mind with what is noble, pure, lovely, praiseworthy. Choose to fix your eyes on where God is at work in the world, where truth is being spoken in the world, where grace is being lived out, and where beauty still shines.

My friends, the mental diet that we choose today will determine the peace that we carry into tomorrow. That is true. And that brings me to my next step backwards through this text, to verses six and seven, to the place that many of us wrestle with on a daily basis. Paul writes, do not worry about anything, but in everything, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Now, I want you to make sure you see and hear that Paul doesn't just say, hey guys, just stop worrying, just stop. That would be cheap advice, right? That would be cheap advice. You see, you simply cannot say to an anxious heart, turn off your worry, as if it's some kind of light switch. You just can't.

Instead, Paul offers something of a holy exchange in this text. He says, take those very things that are keeping you awake in the wee hours of the night, that diagnosis, or the financial pressure, or the broken relationship, the worry and the uncertainty about your children or grandchildren, take it all and turn it into prayer. Or, as the psalmist might put it, cast your burdens on the Lord. And when you do that, says Paul, God's peace will guard your heart and your mind.

Now, that word "guard" in the text, here in the Greek, it's a military term. Remember that these Christians in Philippi, they are in a place that is geographically Greece, but it is now a Roman colony, and has been for decades. Every day they saw Roman soldiers standing guard on the city walls, keeping watch over the community. So Paul here, he's using language, he's using an image that they will recognize from their daily lives. And he suggests that when we trade our worry for prayer, God's peace becomes like this garrison of soldiers standing guard over the doors of our hearts and minds, so that panic does not get to take over.

This peace is a peace that surpasses all understanding. It's an illogical peace. It does not make any sense. It isn't a peace that comes because all of your problems have magically been solved, or because circumstances have suddenly become easy again. No, no, this is the kind of peace that allows a person to sit in the hospital waiting room, or to journey through the dark valley of grief, or even to endure a Roman prison cell, and still know, deep in their bones, that they are held firmly and forever in the grip of God's amazing grace.

Friends, what we're talking about today is a peace that the world didn't give you, and therefore it is also a peace that the world cannot take away from you. And why can Paul promise a peace like that? Why can we dare to hand over the deepest worries of our lives in prayer? Well, it's because of those four little words tucked right into the middle of verse five. The Lord is near. The Lord is near. That's the foundation of it all, friends. You're not throwing your prayers up into an empty sky. You're not just shouting your prayers into the void. The Lord is near, closer to you than your very breath, present with you in any room, present in the loneliness of the night, present in that prison cell with Paul all those years ago.

And when you know that the Lord is near, when God's peace is guarding your heart, something remarkable happens to the way that you walk through the world. We see that in the other part of verse five, where he says, let your gentleness be known to everyone. When you aren't consumed by fear, you don't need to be defensive. When you aren't driven by anxiety, you don't need to lash out or keep score or join in on the cultural outrage of the present moment. No, you get to meet this harsh world with a radical gentleness.

Which brings me to the last part of this text, the very first verse in our reading today, the heartbeat of this entire letter. This refrain is repeated a couple of times in it, the command that fuels everything else. Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice.

Paul doesn't say, rejoice when things go your way, right? I mean, when they do, how about it, have a good time with that. But he says more than that. He doesn't just say rejoice when your bank account is full, or when your health is perfect, or when life is rosy and going according to your personal plan. No, he says, rejoice in the Lord, and when I say it again, always. Joy for the Christian is not an emotion that depends on good circumstances. Not happiness. That kind of happiness depends on what happens to you, it happens on the outside. But joy, joy is something that is cultivated on the inside. It's birthed in a much deeper place.

Paul could rejoice in his prison cell because his joy was not tied to the freedom of his body. It was anchored in the person of Jesus Christ and the gospel which Jesus Christ gave to the world. That's why he could say, I can do all things through him who strengthens me, not because he was a superhero, but because he had drawn close to God in the practices of the faith. He had guarded his mind. He had exchanged his anxiety for prayer, and he lived in the presence of the Lord, who is near. And his heart was filled with unshakable joy.

So, dear church, when the world makes you anxious, pray. When culture encourages your rage, choose gentleness. When you're tempted to look for quick spiritual fixes, choose instead to marinate in the presence of God. And in every season, through every storm, rejoice. Rejoice. Rejoice in the Lord. Again and again, rejoice in the Lord always.

Dear church, we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us. But that's not some kind of magic trick that just appears. We get to say that when we do the work of cultivating our souls, of cultivating this peace that surpasses all understanding. That's about daily practices. That's about our life together. That's about the means of grace. So may we all be those who will engage in those means of grace at every opportunity set before us.

May it be so. In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

Amen.