Philippians 4: 13
During World War II, there was a remarkable group of men called the Seabees.
Seabees was their nickname.
Their official designation was the U.S. Naval Construction Battalions.
They were the men who went ashore behind the Marines during the Pacific island battles
and constructed the facilities necessary for the support of the initial assault forces.
They referred to themselves as "can-do" people, and were often quoted as saying,
"The difficult we do immediately; the impossible takes a little longer."
All of us can be "can-do" people.
All throughout history there have been individual Christians and churches that were can-doers.
Paul was such a can-do Christian, and the little congregation at Philippi was such a church.
Paul began his letter to the Philippines by thanking them for their can-do brand of Christianity,
which had made them his full partners in the gospel of Jesus Christ, even while he was in a Roman prison.
He knew that it was their can-do prayers, which sustained him and gave him hope.
He knew that it was the Philippians' can-do spirit, which enabled them to support him with their gifts,
even when he was absent from them.
Paul was so inspired by their willingness to attempt anything for Christ that he concluded his letter
to them with an affirmation
that literally sings as an anthem of confidence:
"I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound, in any and all circumstances
I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and want.
I can do all things in him who strengthens me." (4: 12-13)
"I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me."
No matter how you say it, that is quite a statement.
In the KJV version of the Bible, verse 13 says,
"I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me."
J. B. Phillips translates Paul as saying,
"I am ready for anything through the strength of the One who lives within me."
The New English Bible translates Paul's statement as,
"I have strength for anything through him who gives me a power."
Good News for Modern Man makes Paul's words as contemporary as the morning newspaper:
"I have the strength to face all conditions by the power that Christ gives me."
No matter which translation is used, Paul makes it clear that Christians can do anything if they remember,
first of all, what they have to do.
What is it that Christians have power to do in living the Christian life?
Paul wraps that answer up in two words: "all things."
Everything! Anything!
Literally, there is nothing that a Christian cannot do.
To be a can-do Christian means that we apply our Christianity in the place we earn our living.
We can apply our Christianity in how we relate to our fellow workers, and to our bosses.
We can apply our Christianity in the way we vote; in the use of our money and time;
even in what we eat and drink and wear.
"The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof." (Psalm 24: 1)
All things are His!
The cattle on a thousand hills, the hills themselves,
and everything under, above, and around the hills are His.
A Christian accepts this as a joyous fact; he is a faithful steward.
Therefore, he knows he can do all things that his Lord wants him to do,
and does those things in a redemptive, loving manner which will reveal the presence of God in him.
Glenn Cunningham was twelve years old, when a kerosene stove blew up,
killing his brother and burning Glenn so horribly that he almost died.
Glenn recovered, although the burns left his leg muscles paralyzed by atrophy.
It seemed certain that Glenn Cunningham would be crippled for life.
But Glenn Cunningham's mother was a can-do Christian.
Paul's motto was engraved upon her soul.
She told her son, "The Lord made you whole, and He wants you whole now.
You'll not only walk, Glenn, you'll run and play.
I believe it and, if you believe it, it will happen."
So day after day, week after week, month after month,
she massaged his useless legs for hours at a time.
When she could not do it, she made Glenn do the massaging himself.
It took a long time, and progress was agonizingly slow,
but there came a day when Glenn Cunningham began to walk and then to run.
He kept at it until, in 1934, he broke the world's record for the mile run.
In 1938, he did it again, breaking his own record.
Glenn Cunningham's mother believed she could do anything with Christ's help,
and she taught Glenn to believe it also -- and he did!
You might say that was an isolated success story.
Absolutely not!
You can do it, also!
Glenn Cunningham's name might as well have been, Legion, for there are countless Christians like him.
Think of Helen Keller who was deaf, unable to speak, and blind.
She believed she could do all things, and think of what she accomplished.
Think of a stone-deaf new Ludwig von Beethoven.
Listen to his Ninth Symphony and consider what he did.
You might consider any of a multitude of well-known winners of stringent adversaries.
Invariably, you will find they had a can-do as the watchword of their lives.
Look around at the real, true Christians in our own community
who have overcome sickness, adversaries, and great, overwhelming odds.
Ask them how they did it.
The chances are that they will answer in some fashion,
"I can do all things through Christ..."
"Through Christ..."
Don't dismiss those two words!
"Through Christ..."
They tell us Who enables us to do what we have to do.
"I can do all things through Christ..."
Paul was calling attention, not to what he, Paul, could do;
rather what he could do because he was enabled "through Christ."
Whenever we read Paul's letters, we should always remember
that we really are reading, not what Paul wrote, but what Christ told Paul to write.
Paul was a Christ-possessed man.
Christ was in his heart, mind, and deeds.
This is clearly evident because one of Paul's favorite expressions was "in Christ";
it occurs dozens of times in his letters.
More than anything else, Paul wanted to be a man "in Christ."
He told the Philippians that it was his "eager expectation and hope that...
always Christ will be honored in my body. Whether by life or by death." (Philippians 1: 20)
Again, he told them that for Christ's sake,
"I have suffered the loss of all things... in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him."
(Philippians 3: 8-9)
He said that the whole goal of his ministry was to be as nearly like Christ as possible.
(Philippians 3: 12-14)
He triumphantly affirmed to the Galatians:
"It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me;
and the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God,
who loved me and gave himself for may." (Galatians 2: 20)
If it had not been for Christ in him,
Paul would not have been effective as either a preacher or a church builder.
He would not have been the greatest Christian missionary of all time.
He would have been only Saul, the hate-filled Pharisee, who served as an accomplice
in the murder of Stephen, the first Christian martyr.
A lady, who was a new Christian, came to her pastor with a personal problem,
which seemed unbearable.
Her husband, who was not a Christian, was giving her a difficult time.
He mocked her faithfulness in worship and prayer.
She could not persuade him to join her, even though she had tried on many occasions.
"I just can't witness to my husband," she said.
"It is impossible for me to win him."
"I agree with you!" The pastor replied.
"It is impossible for you to win him for Christ,
but it is not impossible for Christ to win him through you."
She said, "But how can Christ win him through me?"
The pastor encouraged her not to nag her husband, but to love him and not to push him,
but to lead him by patience and by example.
She agreed to try, and for many months thereafter, she did.
Eventually, he began to attend church with her, and finally, accepted Christ as his Saviour and Lord.
When the husband told the pastor of his decision, his exact words were:
"It wasn't your preaching that led me to this moment.
I took Jesus as my Saviour because I have seen what He did in the life of my wife.
She is the most genuinely, loving person I know, and I wanted to be like her.
If Jesus Christ can do that sort of miracle in her, I know he can also do it for me."
In Marc Connelly's magnificent play, Green Pastures,
there is a powerful scene in which Moses turns over the leadership of the children of Israel to Joshua.
The people didn't understand the reason for the change in leadership.
When they ask why God is treating Moses this way, he tells them that God has plans for him.
Then, he watches the people of Israel march away, leaving him alone.
Moses feels desperately lonely, when suddenly, he feels a hand on his shoulder.
He knows it is the hand of God because he has felt that hand before.
Moses says, "You're with me, are you, Lord?"
And God replies, "Of course I am, Moses."
That same sort of assurance is given to every Christian.
God is with us always and forever in Jesus Christ.
We have His Word on it.
Therefore, we can say with Paul, "I can do all things through Christ..."
We must not forget those last three words in Paul's tremendous affirmation!
Christians can do all things; that is the what of their lives of discipleship.
They can do them through Christ; that is Who enables them to do all things.
"Who strengthens me, "tells us how.
We discover how to do whatever we have to do through the power which Christ alone supplies.
Through Jesus Christ, we are supplied with the power which Christ alone supplies.
Through Jesus Christ, we are supplied with the power we need:
To love the unlovely
To forgive the hateful
To reach out to the lonely and the outcast
To care about those who do not even care about themselves.
But how does the power of Christ work to strengthen us for daily living in good times and bad?
There are three primary ways: