FREE TO BE CONTENT
Freedom! Series - Week 6
PHILIPPIANS 4:10-13
INTRODUCTION:(Drama: Puzzle Pieces - from Willow Creek)
Do you know any Cam’s? Folks that look like they’ve got it all together... money, great house, expensive car... They’ve achieved pretty much everything they have set out in life to do, yet it’s not enough. They are discontent, unfulfilled, wanting something else and yet don’t know what that is. Do you know any Jake’s? Someone who maybe lives paycheck to paycheck, has suffered loss, doesn’t have a lot and yet displays unmistakable peace and contentment?
According to statistics there are a lot of “Cams” in our culture. A recent USA Today survey revealed that 53% of the American people felt like their life was dull and boring. According to “Action America” we are #1 in both highest per capita income and in the number of people who are discontent with life and pessimistic about the future. There are apparently not a lot of Jakes like in our drama.
But I know of one. His name is Paul and he is the author of the book we’ve been studying this summer. He says in vs:11 of our text: "I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation..." The incredible thing about that is that Paul’s circumstances were lousy. He was in prison, he was broke, his health was deteriorating, many of his friends had deserted him and yet he says, "I’m content." How could he say that? What’s his secret? Well, let’s begin by defining contentment from Paul. His perspective would say that: Contentment is: maintaining your spiritual balance independent of circumstances. In other words, contentment is not dependent on the situation around you. It is not dependent on what you have or encounter in this life. Isn’t that what Paul says? "..content in any and every situation."
That makes the most important question: How do we get his kind of contentment? How do we enjoy a truly satisfied life? Or as Jake asked in the drama: “How do you see life? What’s worth doing? What lasts?” Let’s look at three principles from this passage that will help us see what it takes to have contentment in any and every situation, to have that internal peace in the midst of external chaos.
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I. CONTENTMENT IS AN ACQUIRED TRAIT: vs:11
First, Paul would say, "Please note that contentment is an acquired trait.” Paul says in vs:11: "I have learned to be content.." You see contentment does not come naturally or quickly. Contentment is not something you get in a one time experience. I hear people say, "If I could just win the lottery, then I’d be happy." "If I could just find a mate, then I’d be content." "If I could just do this or that.. then I’d be content." And I think those kinds of attitudes come from misconceptions about happiness. They are much like the misconceptions Cam had in our drama. Here are three phrases that represent myths that people have bought into making them think contentment can come quickly:
1) "I must have what others have to be happy." Ever heard your kids say, "But Dad/Mom, everybody has one." This thinking is the myth behind all fads and fashion crazes. Even as adults we can get caught up thinking, if we just had what they had, we’d be happy.
2) "I must be liked by everyone to be happy." This is the myth behind popularity. It says that contentment will come immediately upon everyone being pleased with me. But that is impossible. Bill Cosby was once asked the key to success and he said, “I don’t know the key to success but the key to failure is trying to please everybody.” If Jesus couldn’t please everyone, do you think you can do something Jesus can’t? If you are looking for everyone’s approval to make you happy, you are doomed to discontentment.
3) If I have more, I’ll be more happy." That’s the old myth of behind possessions. John D. Rockefeller was once asked, "How much more would it take to make you happy?" To which he replied, "Just a little more." Ecc. 5:10-11 says it well. “The foolishness of thinking that wealth brings happiness! 11The more you have, the more you spend, right up to the limits of your income.?”(LB) Anybody experienced that? The more you make, the more you spend? If more produced contentment than the richest people would be the most content and that’s not the case.
Happiness is a choice! And get this.. God expects you to be a contented person! That’s right. Let me share with you, a couple of passages of Scripture that make it clear that it is not only good to be content but that God expects it. Now God does not expect us to always be on Cloud 9 or to continually experience euphoria, but He expects the general spirit of our life to be one of peace and contentment.
1) 1 Tim. 6:6-9- "6 But godliness with contentment is great gain. 7 for we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. 8 but if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. 9 people who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction.” You know that verse is the absolute truth? I was at my kids birth and they brought nothing into this world. My two boys didn’t pop out wearing Reeboks. My daughter didn’t come into the world with an I-Phone. And you don’t take anything out of this world either. May Dad told me of one funeral home in Louisville that provides suits for the dead. The suit looks good but it has one thing lacking.. no pockets.. why would you need them? Paul says don’t think that having things is going to provide contentment.
2) Luke 3:14 - Some soldiers ask John the Baptist what they must do to express right living. Listen to what John says, "14 Then some soldiers asked him, "and what should we do?" he replied, "don’t extort money and don’t accuse people falsely--be content with your pay." Can you believe that? I understand not being an extortion or a liar, but "Be content with your wages?" That’s part of living right?
I associate with a lot of preacher’s and you would think them to be the spiritual giants. But you know what? At preacher’s meeting and such it seems that someone is always complaining about being over worked and under paid. (It’s probably nothing like that in your occupation - but it can be like that in the ministry). God doesn’t expect us to be lazy, there’s nothing wrong with trying to better yourself. But the question is: Until an opportunity presents itself, are you demonstrating discontentment with your present situation? Are you worrying? Making others miserable with your discontent?
3) Hebrew 13:5 "Be content with what you have, because God has said, never will I leave you; never will I forsake you." God is asking us to be thermostats not thermometers. A thermostat controls the temperature, a thermometer simply registers whatever the temperature is. God is saying, "You choose contentment. And I want you to learn consistency in the midst of your circumstances because I will always be with you." So contentment is something that is an acquired trait. And in the next two points Paul helps us see the secret of this learning process.
II. CONTENTMENT IS ADJUSTING TO CIRCUMSTANCES: vs:10 & 12
Paul says, "Satisfaction in life comes from adjusting to your circumstances”. Life is full of ups and downs. That was true for the Philippians. Vs:10- "I rejoice greatly in the Lord that at last you have renewed your concern for me. Indeed, you have been concerned, but you had no opportunity to show it." In other words, the Philippians were in an "up" swing because they were able to send Paul a gift, but they had been in a "down" time before this because they had not had enough to send. That word opportunity there means.. "inability." They didn’t have the ability or the funds to send him anything. And life for Paul was a roller coaster experience. At times he was riding along paycheck to paycheck, but at other junctures he lived prosperously, times of "plenty." It was a wild ride - plunging down into hunger, shooting up to being filled, diving down to drastic need, shooting back up to having abundance. Through it all, Paul remained flexible. He didn’t lose faith when he slept on the hard ground with a growling stomach, nor did he forget God when he had a nice home and a hot meal to enjoy. You see, spiritually mature men and women know how to handle both situations without letting either upset their equilibrium with Christ.
Paul is saying here: "One of the things you must do in order to learn to be content is be able to adjust to change." In fact, I’ll go so far as saying, “Your happiness in life may depend on how well you can adjust, roll with the punches, be flexible.” Adjusting is what vs:12 is all about. "I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want."
Now, I see three self imposed road blocks that hinder our ability to adapt and be flexible. Three things that we need to stop doing in order to cultivate our competence in adjusting to life’s circumstances.
1) We need to stop comparing ourselves to others. If you want a sure formula for being constantly miserable in your life, you just make a habit of comparing yourself with those around you. Because there is always somebody doing better or someone threatening to overtake you. Remember the wicked Queen in Snow White, who used to ask the mirror on the wall, "Who’s the fairest of them all?" And she was content as long as she was number 1. But when the mirror told her she had been moved down a notch to runner-up she was not a happy person - she was discontented because of jealousy. How do you feel when someone your age or younger gets a bigger house than you do? A bigger title? A better position? Does that destroy your contentment?
2) The second roadblock is we need to stop being controlled by circumstances.
Most disgruntled people blame their sour attitude on unfortunate circumstances. They are like we discussed earlier, thinking, "You know, I would be happy if..." But you see, the real problem is not that their circumstances are at fault but that they have an unrealistic expectation from life. I believe that a lot of us who are in that category of the "baby-boomer generation" or even a little before, were raised by parents that either witnessed the depression or grew up just after it. And they had it tough so they determined that "my children are going to have it better than I had it." That’s a nice thought, and who doesn’t want their child to have a good life, but in many cases the pendulum swung to far in the opposite direction and they gave us too much. And my generation grew up thinking that we should have it better than Mom and Dad because many Mom’s and Dad’s just flat spoiled us. So, we figured we ought to be able to start where Mom and Dad are now. With two cars and a 3 bedroom home and money in the bank. The problem with those kind of expectations is that when unpleasantness comes along instead of facing it realistically we think we are being deprived. When the marriage gets a little unpleasant we conclude, "This person is destroying me." When the body experiences some health problems we get real sour and say, "Why is God doing this to me?" And is you have a tendency to anticipate the ideal you need to stop and learn to live with the real! Jesus said, "In this world your going to have troubles." (Jn 16:33) Please, listen to me: God does not want you to just cope with your circumstances - he wants you to learn to be content even though your circumstances are not ideal.
And the way to begin to do that is remove this third road block. 3) We need to stop complaining and start praising. Remember what we said a couple of weeks ago? When you complain about your problems you increase your anxiety. But when you thank and praise God for His goodness you increase your peace. If we are honest, we will admit that most of us aren’t very good at that. We may think it’s harmless. But in reality it is destroying our contentment and it is arousing the anger of God. Num.11:1 reads "complaining displeases the Lord." And Psa.77:3 says, "I complained and my spirit was overwhelmed." (KJV)
Richard Foster wrote a book that had some good things to say about this. He says for example, "When you wake up in the morning do you thank God for the nights sleep or do you complain that you have to get up so early?" Foster suggests if you can’t sleep than get up and walk around and thank God that you can walk. Or walk by your
children’s bedrooms and thank God they are asleep. We must cultivate a spirit of thanksgiving and it is not easy in this ungrateful, critical society.
Another idea Foster has is he says that, "Once in a lifetime we ought to go to the bank with our paycheck, cash it in and ask the bank to give us the paycheck in $1 bills.
And come home and spread all those bills on the table so we can visualize how good God is been to us." Now, if you’re sitting there saying, "You know, the dollar bill doesn’t go as far as it used to... Would you listen? You’re the one God wants to talk to today, you have a negative attitude, you’re a complainer. Remember just two chapters over? Paul gave us an imperative: 2:14- "Do everything without complaining.." So, satisfaction in life is an acquired trait and it consists of being flexible, adjusting to circumstances. But the real secret to being content is that...
III. CONTENTMENT IS BEING ANCHORED TO CHRIST: vs:13
Being anchored to Christ. Vs:13- “I can do all things through him (Jesus) who gives me strength." Christ will supply the strength. In fact, the word for strength in this verse is "dunamis" which is where we get our word dynamite. Jesus will provide the power if you will quit trying to be self sufficient and become Christ dependent.
But, in our pride we have determined that we have the power to make ourselves happy. Sometimes without even realizing we think, or least act like, "If I work hard enough or if I can achieve success in life, then I’ll be content." You know what I hear people, even Christian people, say all the time and what I have been guilty of saying too? "I don’t really want to be rich. I just want to have enough to pay my bills and not have to worry all the time. I want to take a trip once in awhile and not have to so concerned about the finances or have all this pressure." We’re kind of like the fellow who was asked, "Would you like to be poor and happy or rich and miserable?" He thought for a moment and said, "I would rather be semi-rich and moderately depressed." But the problem is that we never quite achieve that level where we have enough to be content. It is said that Alexander the Great conquered the world and then sat down and wept because there were no more worlds to conquer. Please hear this: If you have the whole world it will not be enough to fill the longing in your soul. But when we completely submit our will to Jesus Christ, when we make Him the Lord of our lives, when we place our ultimate confidence in Him then He supplies the strength. And I see three attitude changes that gradually take place that produce contentment.
1) People matter more than things. In vs:16 of this chapter Paul says, "..for even when I was in Thessalonica, you sent me aid again and again when I was in need." Then he adds in vs:17- "not that I am looking for a gift.." You see for Paul the Philippian people meant more to him then the things they had sent. He was glad to get it but he didn’t need it. As you mature you begin to feel sorry for those who are caught up in the rat race of impressing others. Rudyard Kipling speaking to a graduating class at Yale University said, "Some day your going to meet somebody who doesn’t care that much for wealth or fame or personal attention. And your going to realize just how poor you really are." Being content is having the attitude that helping others is what really lasts, serving is what really provides greatness.
2) As you mature in Christ the spirit matters more than the flesh. Paul’s body was not in good shape. The Bible teaches us that his vision was going, some think he had migraine headaches and yet here he saying he’s learned to be content. He could say that because the inner man was more important to him than the outer man. Now, our culture places an inordinate emphasis on the body. We’ve got tanning salons and million dollar fitness centers and cosmetic surgery. And some of that is okay because the Bible says we should take care of our bodies but Paul also wrote to Timothy:
"For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things..." (1 Tim. 4:8) As you mature the inner man ought to become more and more important to you. Your contentment is more and more based on the spiritual. Jesus made it very clear that true beauty doesn’t come from without but from within.
And lastly, as you mature in Christ, eternity ought to matter more than time. When Paul wrote these verses in Philippians. he realized that he may never get out of prison but he was still content. Because he realized there was something beyond the grave. As you mature in Christ this world will means less and less. You can feel it and see it and touch it but it’s temporary. As Paul said in 2 Cor. "16Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. 17For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. 18 So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. (2 Cor. 4:16-18) What is unseen becomes your focal point. Christ, people who have died, heaven. That’s what is real. And there is a special contentment in the maturing Christian for you realize that there is a hope that can never be taken away.
Haddon Robinson tells the story of young Chinese boy who wanted to learn all about jade. He went to an old teacher who specialized in the beautiful gem and asked him to teach him. The old man agreed. In lesson 1 the old man placed a piece of the precious stone into the young man’s hand and told him to hold it tight. Then the old teacher began to talk of philosophy, men, women, the sun and almost everything under it. After an hour, the teacher took the stone from the boy and sent him home, telling him to return the next day. The boy was confused but thought surely the next day would be different. But the procedure was repeated the next day and then for several weeks, each time with a different piece of jade. He wanted to be polite to his venerable teacher but finally after weeks of this he was going to quit. He came into the lesson, sat down and the old man put a strange stone into his hand and instinctively the boy said, "Hey, that’s not jade!" To which the teacher replied.. "Now, you are ready to work with the precious stone, for now, you recognize the genuine." Do you? Or are you trying to base your contentment on all the counterfeit things this world offers? If you want to live a satisfied life than you must recognize the genuine... the cornerstone.. Jesus Christ. "I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation.. For .. I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength."
