My reason for dwelling on this matter is to point out that our circumstances are always sovereignly arranged by God. Sometimes His sovereign arrangement puts us in a low situation, and at other times in circumstances that are quite good. Paul realized that even though the supply had come from the church at Philippi, his circumstances were still in the hand of God. In God’s sovereign arrangement, the Philippian church did not send the supply until now. Perhaps they had the heart to send him a gift, but not the opportunity until Epaphroditus could come. When the opportunity was available, the Philippian believers sent a gift to Paul. This supply brought him out of the condition of humiliation, want, and abasement and set him on a peak. But he did not know how long that would last. Nevertheless, he had the assurance that he knew both how to be abased and how to abound, both how to abound and how to be in want. He had learned the secret; he had been initiated into the basic principles of Christ and the church.
In verse 13 we find a basic principle related to the apostle’s secret of sufficiency in Christ: “I can do all things in Him who empowers me.” Paul was a person in Christ (2 Cor. 12:2), and he desired to be found in Christ by others. Now he declared that he could do all things in Him, in the very Christ who empowered him. This is an all-inclusive and concluding word concerning his experience of Christ. It is the converse of the Lord’s word concerning our organic relationship with Him in John 15:5: “Apart from Me you can do nothing.”
In 4:13 Paul refers to Christ as the One who “empowers me.” To be so empowered is to be made dynamic inwardly. Christ dwells in us (Col. 1:27). He empowers us, makes us dynamic, from within, not from without. By such inward empowering Paul could do all things in Christ.
In 4:13 we find the secret to which Paul refers in verse 12. Here Paul says that he is in Christ, in the One who empowers him. In chapter three Paul testified that he pursued Christ in order to gain Him and be found in Him. Now in 4:13 Paul says that he is in Him. In Christ as the One who empowers him Paul could do all things. He could say, “Christ is my secret of sufficiency. As long as I have Him and as long as I am in Him, I can do all things in Him.”
To appreciate Paul’s word we need to join the phrase in Him in 4:13 to the same phrase in 3:9. In 3:9 Paul aspired to be found in Him; in 4:13 Paul declared that being in Him he could do all things in the One who empowered him. This is the secret.
Have you seen the secret? Do you have this secret? Our circumstances may change. In certain circumstances we may abound, and in others we may be abased. But whether we abound or are abased, the enjoyment of the Lord is the same. It may even have been the case that Paul enjoyed Christ more when he was abased than when he was abounding. Perhaps he enjoyed more of Christ when he was poor than when he was rich. This, however, is my understanding. Perhaps Paul would say, “No, I enjoy Christ equally when I am abased and when I am abounding. It makes no difference to me whether I am rich or poor, high or low. The enjoyment of Christ is the same.” Even though the enjoyment might be the same, the taste might still be different. Whether or not there was any difference in enjoyment or in taste, it is certain that Paul had learned the secret.
If we have learned the secret, we shall know how to counteract anxiety. If you are in poverty, there is no need for you to be anxious or to worry. The Lord is still at hand, and He will take care of you. By nature, we are given to worry, to anxiety. This is true as much of the rich as it is of the poor. Those who are poor have their particular worries, and those who are rich have theirs. Only those who are truly in Christ in their experience and who are inwardly empowered by Him have no need to worry or to be anxious.
We have pointed out that when the church at Philippi did not have the opportunity to supply Paul, he was in want. He was humiliated and abased. Do you think that during that time of abasement Paul was worrying? We may have the ground to answer this question with both a yes and a no. On the one hand, we can say that Paul was not worried, for he tells us that he had learned the secret both to be abased and to abound. On the other hand, there is an implication that, in referring to his situation, he must have had some human feeling of worry or anxiety. If Paul did not have any worry, why then did he refer to his situation? When he was in want, he must have had some feeling about it. Otherwise, he would not have told the Philippians that he rejoiced in the Lord greatly that “at length” they had caused their thinking for him to blossom anew. This positive word implies that, prior to receiving the supply through Epaphroditus, Paul was concerned. It seems as if Paul was saying, “Your thinking for me has blossomed anew. For a period of time, you may have forgotten me and did not care for me. Your thinking concerning me passed through a time of winter. But now I rejoice that your thinking for me has blossomed anew.”
If Paul did not have any feelings of worry or anxiety, why would he find it necessary to write such things in his Epistle to the Philippians? As a human being, Paul did undergo suffering with respect to material needs. Paul was not an angel, and he was not like a lifeless statue without feelings. No doubt, he had learned the secret of sufficiency in Christ. When he was in want and was tempted to worry about his situation, he applied this secret. Then, in his experience, this secret eliminated his worry. Therefore, he could have the boldness to testify that he knew both how to be abased and how to abound. The very fact that Paul knew how to be abased indicates that he experienced feelings of abasement. He knew what it was to have worry and anxiety in times of suffering. But at those times he applied the secret of the indwelling Christ. He applied the very Christ in whom he could be found. This Christ is real, living, near, available, and prevailing. This was the Christ who was Paul’s secret.
Using a Stoic term, Paul could say that he had learned, in whatever circumstances he was, to be content. Although Paul used a Stoic word, he was by no means a Stoic. On the contrary, he was a person in Christ, and he experienced Christ and applied Him in all circumstances. Paul could be content not because he had been instructed by the Stoics, but because he applied the very Christ in whom he lived and in whom he remained. Again I say, this Christ became Paul’s secret.