Thriving Through The Valleys Through Contentment- A Lesson From Paul Series

Thriving Through the Valleys Through Contentment- A Lesson from Paul

Jeffery Anselmi / General Adult

Feels / Contentment / Philippians 4:10–14

Contentment is not contingent on our circumstances but on God’s faithfulness and provision.

INTRODUCTION

TITLE SLIDE

• “If I just had a little more…”—how many times have we thought that?

• A bigger paycheck.

• A better job.

• A healthier body.

• A different season of life.

• We live in a culture that runs on upgrades—new phones, new cars, new houses—yet somehow, the more we get, the less satisfied we feel.

• But then you meet someone who has almost nothing… and yet they radiate peace.

• I remember hearing about Horatio Spafford, who lost his fortune in the Great Chicago Fire in 1871, and then in 1873, he lost his four daughters in a shipwreck.

• His wife sent a telegram telling him she was the only one in the family who survived; her message was, “Saved alone."

• Horatio then sailed to meet his wife.

• It is said that as his ship passed over the spot where his daughters had died, he wrote the lyrics to "It Is Well With My Soul."

• In the middle of that grief, he penned this still-popular hymn.

• How?

• How can a person walk through the valley and still sing?

• That’s the question Paul answers in Philippians 4:10–14.

• Today we’re learning from a man in a valley.

• And today, we’re going to unpack how Paul thrived in the valleys, not by escaping them, but by finding a deeper source of strength.

• Paul is confined; he is writing while under house arrest, chained to a Roman soldier; resources are tight; he is chained and uncertain of his future, yet he writes about a kind of steady joy that doesn’t blink in the dark.

• Yet through it all, Paul says he has learned the secret of being content in any and every situation.

• He calls it contentment.

CONTENTMENT SPIRITUAL SKILL SLIDE

• This isn’t a motivational slogan.

• It’s not a personality trait.

• Not denial.

• Not pretending.

• It’s a spiritual skill—one that can be learned, practiced, and lived.

• A learned, Christ-strengthened steadiness that holds in every season.

• Are you in the valley?

• Do you want to learn to thrive even in the valleys of life?

• Join me today, and you will discover how to thrive in life's valleys by embracing contentment.

• We will be with Paul in Philippians 4:10-14; we will begin with verse 10.

Philippians 4:10 NET 2nd ed.

10 I have great joy in the Lord because now at last you have again expressed your concern for me. (Now I know you were concerned before but had no opportunity to do anything.)

MAIN POINT 1 SLIDE

I. Contentment begins with a grateful heart.

• In our text, we observe Paul writing while under house arrest, chained to a Roman soldier around the clock.

• The chain was a "single short length of chain by which Paul’s right wrist was fastened to his soldier guard’s left wrist."

• This was a Roman custom for prisoners awaiting trial before Caesar.

• I don’t know about you, but I would have a difficult time rejoicing about much of anything if I were in that position.

• Yet here is Paul, talking about his great joy.

• How can this be?

• His is one of the deepest valleys one could find themselves in.

• Paul makes a decision to be content in all seasons of life, both the peaks and the valleys.

• Notice that Paul says he has great joy in the Lord.

• What usually brings us joy in life?

• Gifts!

• When the gifts come, our spirits and joy rise; when the valleys come, our joy and spirit descend.

THERMOMETER THERMOSTAT SLIDE

• Have you ever noticed that our souls experience changes in emotional weather?

• One week you’re sunny and 75—prayers are answered, doors are opening.

• The next week?

• Dust storm.

• You can’t feel God, the news isn’t good, and joy evaporates fast.

• Here’s my question: Are you living like a thermometer or a thermostat?

• A thermometer only reflects the climate—up when life is up, down when life is down.

• A thermostat sets a climate—it holds steady in the heat and the cold.

• [Pause; look around.]

If nothing in your life changed for the next 90 days—no raise, no fix, no miracle—how content would you be?

• Be honest: would your soul rise and fall with the temperature of your week?

• Paul’s gratitude is God-centered, not gift-centered.

• Paul’s joy was vertical before it was horizontal—he rejoiced in the Lord, not merely in the gift.