SEVEN  HOLY  I's

          " I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me. "   Philippians 4:13

Such a powerful verse, isn't it? Sort of rings with the flavor of the great American Dream.....you know, we can do anything!!  You get the idea that we're just going to "batten down the hatches" and go for it because  "I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me."  Right?

Not really.  Phil. 4:13 is like catching the last inning of a good baseball game.  It's the conclusion that's drawn to a whole series of statements that precedes it.  It was never intended to stand on it's own.  It's preceded by some thoughts and conditions, by some concepts which, if are not implemented, will put us into a mess. 

Now, there is a plan to achieve "I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me,"  but friend, there are some things that lead up to that and they are essential....unfortunately, they are often missing from our way of thinking.  So when we walk around boldly confessing that we can do all things through Christ, we fail to realize that there are some things that make that work!  I want to show you seven holy I's and you already know # 7, "I  can do all things through Christ which strengthens me."  That's the conclusion, that's the 7th holy I .  That's the one that holds up everything else.

Let's read verses 11 and 12 ( isn't it wonderful how vs. 11 and 12 precede vs. 13?  Maybe they precede it in implementation too!! )

 " Not that I speak in respect of want, for I have learned,
in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.  I know
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 suffer need. "  Phil. 4:11-12

" Not that I speak in respect of want."  Let me give you a real simple translation of what that means.  Paul is saying, "I'm not going to go around talking about how I need this and how I want that, and this is how you can meet my needs."  What's he really saying?  It's our big # 1.  He's saying  I do not complain!!  Don't you just kind of cringe when you hear me say that?  Paul is saying, I do not complain....I have finally found the most worthless attitude in all the world.  I've found it through trial and error.  I've stumbled across an attitude which is totally worthless...has no value whatsoever, and brings forth absolutely no fruit....it's complaining!!

Complaining is the root of unbelief and disobedience.  Not only that, but people don't like complainers, yet we insist on doing it anyway.  When we complain, we're saying that things should be different.  We shouldn't have to be going through this. We don't deserve that.  And so we complain.....until after awhile, pitifully, nobody listens.  Why is that?  Well, I believe the human spirit just sort of naturally rejects complainers. When will we realize that complaining is worthless.

Paul said,  I don't complain....I've told my spirit, I've told my emotions, and I've told my mind that complaining is worthless, it doesn't bear fruit for me, it doesn't bear fruit for the Kingdom, it doesn't do anything.....it just lays there like a dead dog and never achieves anything.

I do not complain.  The first step to achieving # 7, I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me, is #1, I do not complain.  Complaining is a fruitless endeavor that brings forth nothing but frustration, ignorance and eventual isolation.  Can you see that?

Next, Paul says, "I have learned."   Isn't it wonderful how when you finally shut up and stop complaining how all of a sudden you hear better?  I don't know whether you can prove that chemically or not, but it seems like when you stop speaking, when you stop complaining, and you stop yak, yak, yak, yak.....suddenly your ears....it's like they work!!  When you stop complaining a miraculous thing happens in your life, you start the process of learning....which suggests very strongly that when you're complaining, there is no possibility for learning to occur.  When you're complaining, your not learning a thing because you're too busy telling people why it's impossible to learn.

"It's too hot, or it's too red, or it's too blue, or it's too loud, or it's just not going to work."  blah, blah, blah...

Paul says that when you stop complaining, that # 2, you learn.  Complaining time becomes learning time.  Wow, I stopped complaining and I suddenly realized I was learning!

OK, we're trying to get to # 7 holy I....I can do all things through Christ.  So what did Paul learn?  # 3, In whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.  In other words, we learn what we can do and we learn what we cannot do ( usually a little harder ).  We learn.....not the secrets of theology, not the secrets of the universe....but the first thing I learn is who I am.  I do not complain and I learn who I am.

What comes next?  Our text says, # 4, I know how to be abased."  You see, once you know how to be content with who you are, you find out how life works.  Do you know how life works?  Paul says life works this way: There are times when we are abased....that's right, times when we go low, times when we feel humiliated, times when we don't achieve what we wanted to achieve.  There are times when we look in the mirror and just plain want to stick out our tongue.  Paul says those are not bad times!!  Those are times for self evaluation.  How would we ever know how to recover from a low condition if we never went low?  Paul says, you need to learn how to go to the basement of life!  Why is that?  Because you'll find a lot of people who live down there who don't know how to get out.  You see, God has ordained for us to experience a balance in our lives.  For us to go down sometimes....for us not to always win!  To learn the importance of building character when we are low....that's when introspection occurs, not when everything is going well.  I know how to be abased....

And then Paul says, # 5, "I know how to abound!"  There's a time for the human spirit to abound!  There are times to succeed!  Paul says, I've learned how life works.  When you are on top, it's time to make quality decisions.  I know how to abound.....I keep my perspective...I continue to learn.  When I stop complaining, I learn who I am, and once I learn who I am, I learn how the planet works...how God intended men to abase and abound, to go up and down, learning in both capacities, rejoicing in both, understanding that God has not forsaken them when they are abased, and that it is He that causes them to abound.

Now # 6, "I am instructed."   I like that.  You see, there's a difference between a teacher and an instructor.  A teacher imparts information to you...hopes you'll take good notes, hopes you'll learn and go out and apply what you've learned.  An instructor takes you into the shop, and hands on hands, he takes you through it!  That's the way God works in our lives.  He wants us to feel His hands on our hands. 

That's what God wants, Church.  He wants us to reach a point where we stop complaining that life is so tough and we start learning who we are.  Then we discover how life is meant to work.  It's abasing and abounding, where we go up and down, and in each capacity we learn.  We learn that there is a living God that wants to instruct us, hands on hands.

Paul says, that if you come to that place, then # 7 Holy I...

 " I CAN DO ALL THINGS THROUGH CHRIST WHICH STRENGTHENS ME! "