I Can't Get No Satisfaction...without Jesus

“I can do all things through Him who strengthens me” (Philippians 4:13).

Ah, the legendary Philippians 4:13. It’s kind of the Troy McClure of Bible verses. You probably remember it from such familiar places as football player’s eye black, coffee mugs, t-shirts, bumper stickers, and post game interviews. It’s your life verse, isn’t it? Come on, admit it. I’ll come clean, it was mine for years. (Which brings us to the idea of a “life verse.” What in the wide world of sports is a “life verse” anyhoo?)

There’s just one teeny weeny theological problem with all the press this verse has gotten over the years. Paul is NOT talking about Jesus giving you the power to score that game-winning TD in the fourth quarter. It has nothing to do with God stoking you with the ability to close that big deal with the sweet commission. How ‘bout claiming that verse to find that hunky husband you’ve dreamed about? Not so much. 

Meghan Trainor may be all about that bass, but understanding Scripture is all about context. Flip open Philippians to chapter four. If you’re a chronic Bible highlighter like me, verse 13 jumps off the page thanks to a rainbow of colors, underlining, stars, and exclamation points. Now throw it reverse and back up to verse 11. Let’s take a scriptural running start at the passage. When we start reading there, it becomes pretty stinking obvious what our man Paul is talking about. Contentment in Christ in any situation. Satisfaction in our Savior no matter the circumstance. Seriously, if it meant God giving him powers and abilities far beyond those of mortal men in order to bust out of prison, wouldn’t the apostle have done that already? It’s like Pete Briscoe frequently says. “A text without context is a pretext for a prooftext.” 

Paul tells his friends back in Philippi that he’s uncovered a huge secret to life (Phil 4:11-12). And it’s allowed him to be an ATV of contentment. He’s satisfied wherever he rolls. When he doesn’t have two shekels to rub together. When he’s rolling in the Benjamins. It just doesn’t matter. He’s good. He’s got everything he needs. You can imagine this important bit of information has come in handy since he’s been in the slammer for the past five years. 

It’s at this point Paul scribbles those legendary words. “I can do all things through Him who strengthens me” (v13). A closer look at the original language provides a little better understanding of what’s going on here. First of all, he writes that he “can do all things” (v13). The apostle uses the Greek verb ischuo, which means to be able, have resources, or be strong. When John Mark tells the story about Jesus meeting the wild man living in the cemetery, he says, “No one had the strength (Gr. ischuo) to subdue him” (Mk 5:4). When the Gospel turns Ephesus upside down, Dr. Luke describes how “the word of the Lord continued to increase and prevailed mightily (Gr. ischuo)” (Acts 19:20). We’re not talking about barely eking out enough energy and barely pulling it off. This is no 95-pound weakling here. This is serious muscle. It’s beefy. It’s brawny. It’s ripped. It’s yoked. 

The apostle pulls back the curtain on the source of his strength. Is he drinking Muscle Milk? Maybe the key is creatine. Has Barry Bonds’ trainer slipped him either the clear or the cream? None of the above. He’s able to do this “through Him who strengthens me” (v13). If you have any doubt about the Person behind the pronoun “Him,” he’s talking about the resurrected Rabbi/Carpenter from Nazareth. In several of his letters, Paul says he would test positive for Jesus, not PEDs. “I thank Him who has given me strength, Christ Jesus our Lord” (1Tim 1:12). Jesus gives us supernatural “power through His Spirit in your inner being” (Eph 3:16). And here’s the crazy part. The gift of His strength does its best work when we’re at our weakest (2Cor 12:9). 

Because of Jesus and our faith in who He is and what He’s done, we are able to take on any and all situations. Paul says it’s because He “strengthens me” (v13). The Greek verb here is endunamo’o. It’s a compound word that literally means to give someone or something else the ability to do something that couldn’t otherwise be done. To empower. To enable. To provide strength. Every single time it’s used in the New Testament, God is the One providing the power (Acts 9:22; Rom 4:20; Eph 6:10; 1Tim 1:12; 2Tim 2:1; 2Tim 4:17; Heb 11:34). Think of it this way. Jesus is our Enabler. No, He’s not that person in your life who sets you up to self-destruction. Just the opposite. He’s the Enabler who gives you and me the victory over our sinful habits and addictions. One Greek expert translates this verse, “I am able to face all conditions by the One who makes me able (to do it)” (v13). Our Lord is our Enabler. In a very good way.

For fifty years, the Rolling Stones have told everybody who would listen that they can’t get no satisfaction. It doesn’t matter how hard they try and they try and they try and they try. Maybe they should have checked with the Apostle Paul. He’s clearly found the one thing Mick Jagger and the boys have been looking for. Contentment that’s not restricted by any zip code, time of day, or economic situation. The man from Tarsus can’t get no satisfaction…without Jesus. Sorry about the not-so-subtle Jesus Juke, but that’s EXACTLY what Paul wants the world to know. Check out the verse over in the Message. “Whatever I have, wherever I am, I can make it through anything in the One who makes me who I am” (v13 The Message).

So instead of being some sort of being the Christian equivalent of rubbing the bottle of the Bible so Jesus the genie will pop out, Philippians 4:13 describes how we can stand strong against the storms of life in Christ. Jesus Himself talks about how our obedience to what He commands make us like a house built for a hurricane (Mt 7:24-27). We find our satisfaction in our Savior because HE IS THE BLESSING! It doesn’t get any better than getting God. That idea is all throughout the Bible (Ps 16:5; 73:26; Lam 3:24; Lk 10:42). With Him, I have everything. Without Him, I’ve got nothing. So take it from Paul. He can’t get no satisfaction…without Jesus.