The Vision (5.8.26): All Things Through Christ

 

Note: Devotion taken from sermon on Sunday, March 3, 2026.

“I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me” (Philippians 4:13).

As Paul draws to a close his epistle to the saints at Philippi, he rejoices that their care and concern for him has flourished once again, as they sent Epaphroditus to care for him while he was imprisoned (4:10). With this aid, Paul could write, “But I have all, and abound. I am full…” even while he was still in bonds within a grim prison cell (4:18).

The apostle notes that in the course of his ministry, which included many instances of outrageous suffering (cf. 2 Cor 11:22-28), he had learned “in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content” (Phil 4:11). This learning he desired to pass on to them.

In Philippians 4:13 Paul directs us to the source of his contentment, in a statement that is one of the best-known verses in this letter, in the New Testament, and even all of Scripture. His contentment had not come about through his stoic resolve, but through the presence of Christ in him (cf. Gal 2:20).

It would be an audacious statement were it not clearly qualified. Paul does not simply say, “I can do all things,” but, “I can do all things through Christ.” That is, by means of Christ, the one who is the source of all strength and provision for the believer. It is a statement about the ability of Christ and the inability of man.

Paul is saying he could face all those extremes and challenges of life not because of some innate power he possessed, humanly speaking, but because of the one who was within him. As Paul wrote in Romans 8:31, “If God be for us, who can be against us?” And as the apostle John noted, “greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world” (1 John 4:4).

What storms and troubles surround you, Christian friend? What fears and anxieties torment you? What deficiencies alarm you? Take Paul’s words in Philippians 4:13 and do what generations of Christians before you have done to their spiritual profit. Write them in the flyleaf of your Bible. Memorize them. Repeat them over and over again, both aloud and silently in your mind, till the Spirit brings comfort and assurance, even “the peace of God, which passeth all understanding” (Phil 4:7).

Grace and peace, Pastor Jeff Riddle