Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content. I know both 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 to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me. Philippians 4:11-13
“This text contains a very timely cordial to revive the drooping spirits of the saints in these sad and sinking times. For the “hour of temptation” has already come upon all the world to try the inhabitants of the earth.
Our great Apostle holds forth experimentally in this text the very life and soul of all practical divinity. In it, we may plainly read his own proficiency in the school of Christ and what lesson every Christian who would prove the power and growth of godliness in his own soul must necessarily learn from him. These words are brought in by Paul as a clear argument to persuade the Philippians that he did not seek after great things in the world, and that he sought not “theirs” but “them.” He did not long for great wealth; his heart was taken up with better things. “I do not speak,” he says, “in respect of want, for whether I have or have not, my heart is fully satisfied, I have enough: ‘I have learned in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.’”
“In whatsoever state I am.” The word state is not in the original, but simply “in what I am,” that is, in whatever concerns or befalls me, whether I have little or nothing at all.
“Therewith to be content.” The word rendered “content” here has great elegance and fullness of meaning in the original. In the strict sense, it is only attributed to God, Who has styled Himself “God all-sufficient,” in that He rests fully satisfied in and with Himself alone. But He is pleased freely to communicate His fullness to the creature, so that from God in Christ the saints receive “grace for grace” (John 1:16). As a result, there is in them the same grace that is in Christ, according to their measure. In this sense, Paul says, I have a “self-sufficiency,” which is what the word means.
You will say, “How are we sufficient of ourselves?” Our Apostle affirms in another case, “That we are not sufficient of ourselves to think anything as of ourselves” (2 Corinthians 3:5). Therefore his meaning must be, “I find a sufficiency of satisfaction in my own heart, through the grace of Christ that is in me. Though I have not outward comforts and worldly conveniences to supply my necessities, yet I have a sufficient portion between Christ and my soul abundantly to satisfy me in every condition.” This interpretation agrees with, “A good man is satisfied from himself” (Proverbs 14:14), and with Paul of himself: “…having nothing yet possessing all things” (2 Corinthians 6:10). Because he had a right to the covenant and promise, which virtually contains everything, and an interest in Christ, the fountain and good of all, it is no marvel that he said that in whatsoever state he was in, he was content.
Thus, you have the true interpretation of the text. I shall not make any division of the words because I take them only to promote the one most necessary duty: quieting and comforting the hearts of God’s people under the troubles and changes they meet with in these heart-shaking times.
Jeremiah Burroughs (1599-1646) in The Rare Jewel Of Christian Contentment (Carlisle, PA: The Banner of Truth Trust) 2-3. Recently, I’ve had multiple email and face-to-face conversations about contentment with friends in various places in the world. Few writers cover the topic as thoroughly and biblically as Burroughs. Click to read the whole piece freely.
Without Christian contentment, no one can experience joy and peace in sad and sinking times. It serves as the “very timely cordial” for facing any set of troubles.
“Self-sufficiency” in the world’s view describes a person that has enough money to live. If that is your view, you are enslaved to money and likely unaware of it. I hate to break it to you, but it’s the truth. And the reason such a view will never bring you the joy and peace you seek is that you can never have enough money to address the infinite possibilities of life.
Alternatively, Burroughs explains “self-sufficiency” in Christ beautifully:
“I find a sufficiency of satisfaction in my own heart, through the grace of Christ that is in me. Though I have not outward comforts and worldly conveniences to supply my necessities, yet I have a sufficient portion between Christ and my soul abundantly to satisfy me in every condition.”
In short, this is the secret to it: if we have Christ, we have everything we have ever needed in the past, that we ever need in the present, and will ever need in the future. Only thus with joy and peace can we be generous because we have come to realize that we have all sufficiency in Him, so can we be generous at all times and all occasions.