DISCOVERY OF THE SECRET OF CONTENTMENT Philippians 4:7-13
Proposition: The secret of contentment is found in a personal relationship with the living Christ who loves us and who is able to gives adequate strength to cope with life in spite of our circumstances.
Objective: My purpose is to challenge God’s people to be content and satisfied with the strength that the Lord can and will provide as we put our complete trust in Him.
INTRODUCTION:
Illus: A man borrowed a book from an acquaintance. As he read through it, he was intrigued to find parts of the book underlined with the letters YBH written in the margin. When he returned the book to the owner, he asked what the YBH meant. The owner replied that the underlined paragraphs were sections of the book that he basically agreed with. They gave him hints on how to improve himself and pointed out truths that he wished to incorporate into his life. However, the letters YBH stood for “Yes, but how?”
Those three letters could be written on the margins of ours souls: “I ought to know how to take better care of myself, but how?” “I know I ought to spend more time in Scripture reading and prayer, but how?” “I know I ought to be more sensitive to others, more loving of my spouse, more understanding of the weaknesses of others, but how?” As Christian people we know the kind of life we ought to live, and most of us have the best of intentions to do so, but how?
We know that we need to do better, but we also know how far short we fall. So the question that confronts us this morning is: “Yes, but how?” “Paul, that is easy for you to say, but you don’t the things I face today from our world.” A paraphrase of Paul speaking to the Corinthian church: “It seems to me that God has put us who bear his Message on stage in a theater in which no one wants to buy a ticket. We’re something everyone stands around and stares at, like an accident in the street. We’re the Messiah’s misfits. You might be sure of yourselves, but we live in the midst of frailties and uncertainties. You might be well-thought-of by others, but we’re mostly kicked around. Much of the time we don’t have enough to eat, we wear patched and threadbare clothes, we get doors slammed in our faces, and we pick up odd jobs anywhere we can to eke out a living. When they call us names, we say, “God bless you.” When they spread rumors about us, we put in a good word for them. We’re treated like garbage, potato peelings from the culture’s kitchen. And it’s not getting any better.” Now, Paul is in prison and speaks again: “Actually, I don’t have a sense of needing anything personally. I’ve learned by now to be quite content whatever my circumstances.”
Illus: The secret of contentment is knowing how to enjoy what you have, and to be able to lose all desire for things beyond your reach.
I. PROPER SELECTION (vvs. 8-9) “whatever things…meditate on these things”—There is a lot of negative thinking today and we need to be aware of its dangers. The Bible teaches that we choose what we think. The secret lies in a positive Christian outlook.
1. Right thinking (v. 8) “meditate on these things”- Peace involves the heart & the mind (Isa, 26:3, Rom. 8:6). Wrong thoughts will lead to unrest & discouragement, but spiritual thinking will lead to peace.
1). The choices (v. 8a)—Each of us determines what we will think about. There are thoughts that promote inner character—We must practice the right kind of thinking which is possible only because Christ lives His life in us: things that are true, things that are honest (noble and worthy of respect), think about things that are just (right and conforms to God’s standards). There are thoughts that promote inner cleanness—Exclude that which besmirches and think on things that are pure (on what is whole- some and not mixed with moral impurity. Only the blood of Christ can cleanse the mind. Extol that which beautifies and think on things that are lovely (that which promotes peace rather than conflict and worthy of love, things that gracious and kindly). Exalt that which builds and think on things that are of good report (that which is well-spoken of and relates to what is positive and constructive rather than negative and destructive). We have to make deliberate choices to think profitable thoughts. The secret of a guided thought life is an active assertion of the will, in cooperation with the Holy Spirit, to “think on these things.”
2). The challenge (v. 8b) “Meditate on these things”--God challenges us to face up to the responsibility of making the right choices (Proverbs 23:7). Remember that Christ was always true in what He did and said. At His trial nobody could think of anything He had said or done that could be used against Him. His enemies had to hire false witnesses, twist His words and resort to mob psychology and highly-charged political slogans to get Him condemned. Paul had mentioned "Jesus Christ" at the end of verse seven which means we must direct our thoughts to Jesus. We must think of Christ. All unworthy thoughts perish in His presence. Right thinking is the result of daily meditation on Christ (the Living Word) & the Word of God (the written Word).
Sow a thought, reap an action. Sow an action, reap a habit.
Sow a habit, reap a character. Sow a character, reap a destiny!
2. Right living (v. 9) “The things…these do”-- If there is something in my life I dare not pray about, then I will never have peace. Right living takes practice, not so much in long hours of contemplation as in down-to-earth living after the example so clearly set out by Paul. If someone objected to the standard Paul sets as too high, Paul could say, "Very well, then what about me? You saw me live the Christ-life before you. How do you think I did it? I’m made of the same stuff as you are. My back bled when whipped by the Roman officials; my flesh cringed from pain; my limbs be-came cramped in the stocks. I knew what it was to be afraid, disappointed & depressed. Only I didn’t moan and complain and give up. I sang! How did I do it? By accentuating the positive & filling my heart & mind & soul with thoughts of Christ." Right living always brings peace (Isa. 32:17, 48:18, 22). It is a great consolation to know that "The God of peace will be with you."
Illus: A brief and simple, but very expressive, eulogy was pronounced by Martin Luther upon a pastor at Zwickaw, in 1522, named
Nicholas Hausman. “What we preach,” said the great reformer, “He lives.”
A good woman who had been to the house of God was met on her way home by a friend, who asked her if the sermon was done. “No,” she replied, “it is all said; it has got to be done.”
II. PROPER SATISFACTION (v. 10) “I rejoiced in the Lord”- Paul begins this concluding comment with a burst of gratitude for the Philippians’ kindness to him.
1. The acknowledgement (v. 10a) “I rejoiced in
the Lord greatly”— He views everything with reference to Christ. When he is grateful for their gift with an outburst of praise to God’s glory, he rejoices even more in that they know the Lord and for the growth they have experienced in Christ. Paul’s equation is affliction plus poverty equals abounding in generosity. Worldly eagerness, and worldly care and anxiety about persons and things, are rebuked by the spirit of rejoicing in the Lord. But now — shall we in faith give ourselves to learn the true rejoicing in the Lord?
2. The appreciation (v. 10b) “your care of me”--The
reason why he had not before received the favor, was not neglect or inattention on their part, but the difficulty of having communication with him. Paul rejoices that now at last, after a period of time had elapsed, the Philippians had sent him practical assistance in the work of the Lord. Paul here takes notice of the present which these Philippians had sent him, on account of this, he is rejoicing. It was not small but great, and was not of a carnal but spiritual kind; it was a joy in the Holy Spirit, it was a joy in the Lord. It was of the Lord, He had put it into their hearts to do it, and had given them not only ability, but a willing mind, and had wrought in them both to will and to do; and because what they did they did for the sake of Christ in obedience to Christ, and with a view to promote his cause and interest, honor and glory. Illus: The best way to cheer yourself up is to try to cheer somebody else up. ~Mark Twain
3. The apology (v. 10c) “but you lacked opportunity”— For two years the church in Philippi had lost touch with Paul. They did not know where he was after he had been arrested in Jerusalem & then put in prison for two years. The next time they heard about him, he had been transferred to a prison in Rome. They apologized to him for not having contact with him & for not commun-icating their gifts to him during those years. “You just had no chance to show it.” He does not blame them for the period of time in which no help was received; he gives them credit that they wanted to send gifts to him but that they lacked opportunity to do so. Moffatt translates: “For what you lacked was never the case but the chance of showing it.” Paul says, “I rejoiced in the Lord greatly, that now at the last your care of me hath flourished again; wherein ye were also careful, but ye lacked opportunity.” In other words, “You had lost contact with me so that you didn’t have the opportunity to be helpful to me.” How gracious Paul was!
Illus: Somebody said to Mr. D. L. Moody in the very heyday of his evangelistic career, "Mr. Moody, the Lord has used you to lift two continents Heavenward & Godward. I wish you would give me a few words of resume of your evangelistic work. I would like to print it in my journal." "I’d be glad to," said Mr. Moody. And the young journalist produced his pad, poised his pencil to take in rapid shorthand the story of what God had wrought through D. L. Moody. "Put up your pencil," said Mr. Moody. "You won’t need it. I think you can remember all I am going to tell you." And then he said, "My name is Dwight L. Moody. I was born the first time in 1837. I was born the second time in 1856. My body is soon to die, but my spirit, born two times, is immortal." That’s all he said, and that is enough. He was emphasizing the new birth. That was the source of his joy.
III. PROPER SUFFICIENCY (vvs. 11-12) “I have learned…to be content”- Contentment is not escape from the battle, but rather an abiding peace & confidence in the midst of the battle. An airline pilot was flying over the Tennessee mountains & pointed out a lake to his copilot. “See that little lake?” he said. “When I was a kid I used to sit in a rowboat down there, fishing. Every time a plane would fly overhead, I’d look up & wish I was flying it. Now I look down & wish I was in a rowboat, fishing.”
1. The concern (v. 11a) “Not that I speak in regard to want”— Contentment is not something we are born with, it is something that we need to learn. Contentment can only be learned by those in Christ who have the Holy Spirit as the Master Teacher of their souls. The reason material things can never make a man content is that a man is never able to get enough of them to satisfy him... Someone once asked John D. Rockefeller how much money is enough. He thought a moment and said, “Just a little more than one has.”
Illus: A man bought a ticket for a boat ride across the Atlantic. He supplied himself with food he thought would be sufficient for the entire trip, but after a few days it was all gone. As he smelled the odor of the cooking food and saw other passengers going to their meals, he became more and more hungry. Finally he asked if there was some way he could get some food from the dining room. He was asked to show his ticket and he was told that his ticket included all meals and that he could go in and help himself. When we accept Jesus as our Savior and are born into God’s family, God says you are mine and all that I have is yours.
2. The confidence (v. 11b) “I have learned…to be content”-- Two words in that verse are vitally important—“learned” and “content.” The verb “learned” means “learned by experience.” Paul’s spiritual contentment was not something he had immediately after he was saved. He had to go through many difficult experiences of life in order to learn how to be content. The Greek word means “self-sufficient” and was a favorite word of the stoic philosophers. But the Christian is not sufficient in himself; he is sufficient in Christ. Because Christ lives within us, we are adequate for the demands of life. There is a contrast with the Stoics “self-sufficiency,” but for Paul who transforms it into Christ-sufficiency. The Stoics “self-sufficiency” comes from within oneself, but Paul comes from without in Christ. He is one who is totally “dependent” and thus not “independent” at all in the Stoic sense.J Contentment is really greater than riches, for “if contentment does not produce riches, it achieves the same object by banishing the desire for them.” “It is a blessed secret when the believer learns how to carry a high head with an empty stomach, an upright look with an empty pocket, a happy heart with an unpaid salary, joy in God when men are faithless.”
Illus: Contentment is a state of satisfaction that is anchored to our confidence in God that results in a joyful celebration of life. It isn’t what we have, but what we enjoy that makes for a rich life, and the wise person understands that contentment is not having everything we want, but enjoying everything we have.
Illus: Contentment is an inner sense of rest or peace that comes from being right with God and knowing that He is in control of all that happens to us. It means having our focus on the kingdom of God and serving Him, not on the love of money and things. Contentment also means not being battered around by difficult circumstances or people, and not being wrongly seduced by prosperity, because our life is centered on a living relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. So no matter what happens to us or what others do to us, we have the steady assurance that the Lord is for us & He will not forsake us.
Illus: F. B. Meyer wrote that Paul was “deprived of every comfort, and cast as a lonely man on the shores of the great strange metropolis, with every movement of his hand clanking a fetter, and nothing before him but the lion’s mouth or the sword”
3. The circumstances (v. 12a) “to be abased…to abound”--Whether poor or well off-- I’m content. Whether hungry or fed-- I’m content. Whether joy or sorrow, free or imprisoned-- I’m content. Whether health or sickness-- I’m content. Whether life is going my way or not-- I’m content. Whether there’s 1000 people in church or 10-- I’m content.
4. The condition (v. 12b) “I have learned both to be full and to be hungry”— Paul’s flirtation with the world around him increases in verse 12: "I know what it is to have little, and I know what it is to have plenty. In any and all circumstances I have learned the secret of being well-fed and of going hungry, of having plenty and of being in need." Borrowing the language of the “mystery cults” of his day, the apostle tells us, “I have learned the secret,” or more literally, “I have been initiated.” In a moment we shall look at the secret itself, but meanwhile, we see what it does for this man who triumphantly possesses it. The verb translated here as "I have learned the secret" had a technical meaning in the time of Paul. It was used for initiation into mystery religions, esoteric religious organizations that promised salvation through secret knowledge and ritual. People who were initiated into the mysteries of Isis or Eleusis were described as "learning the secrets" of their particular god and its cult. Paul’s use of this verb is no accident. He’s clearly drawing upon the language of pagan religion to describe his own Christian experience.d. He is no Stoic who, trusting in his own resources, and supposedly unmoved by either joy or grief, endeavors with all his might to submit without complaining to unavoidable necessity. The apostle is no statue. He is a man of flesh and blood. He knows both joys and sorrows, yet is content. But his contentment has its cause in One other than himself. Phillips has it: “I know now how to live when things are difficult and I know how to live when things are prosperous.”
Illus: A few years ago, Billy Rose wrote a syndicated newspaper column, in which items of extraordinary human interest would frequently appear. One day he told the story of a group of famous American financiers who, in the early 1920’s, met at the Edgewater Beach Hotel in Chicago. They represented, in personal wealth and financial control., more money than was in the national treasury. Their influence was enormous, their “success” fabulous. Twenty-five years later Billy Rose called the roll of these princes of the financial world. The men, whom he named will be nameless here. One of them, a man who had cornered millions through wheat speculation, had died abroad, insolvent. Another, the president of the nation’s largest independent steel company, had died broke. The president of the New York Stock Exchange, another in the group, had been recently released from prison. A member of the cabinet in the Harding administration, after being let out of prison for health reasons, had died at home. The greatest exploiter of the “bear” market in Wall Street had committed suicide. The leader of the world’s greatest monopoly had likewise died at his own hand. Billy Rose’s summing up was sound. He said, “All of these men had learned how to make big money, but not one of them had learned how to live!”
IV. PROPER STRENGTH (v. 13) “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”— The secret of his contentment in difficult circumstances is Christ. Whatever the problem, difficulty or dis-appointment, Paul finds in Christ the strength to face it. The apostle was not desperately seeking a gift from the Philippians, because he knew that Christ would give him the strength for whatever circumstances were in God’s will for him.
1. The enablement "I can do all things”-- Did the apostle really believe that there was nothing he could not do? The answer is this: When the Apostle Paul said that he could do all things, he meant all things which were God’s will for him to do. Paul turns “self-sufficiency” into “contentment” because of his “self-sufficiency.”
2. The Enabler "through Christ”—The secret of Paul’s independence was his dependence upon Another. His self-sufficiency in reality came from being in vital union with One who is all-sufficient. He knows that Christ is his strength (Gal_2:20). Of the strength which Christ can impart, Paul had had abundant experience; and now his whole reliance was there. It was not in any native ability which he had; not in any vigor of body or of mind; not in any power which there was in his own resolutions; it was in the strength that he derived from the Redeemer. Paul has such strength so long as Jesus keeps on putting power (dunamis) into him. In all circumstances, Christ, our unchanging Friend, can uphold us. Let the eye and the affections of the heart be fixed on him; let the simple, fervent, believing prayer be directed always to him when trials come, when temptations assail, when duty presses hard upon us, and when a crowd of unholy and forbidden thoughts rush into the soul: and we shall be safe.
3. The enduement (means to provide with something)
"who strengthens me"—The word for “strengthens” means “to be made strong.” He had learned that the Lord’s commands are the Lord’s enablements. He knew that God would never call on him to accomplish some task without giving the necessary grace. This was not an expression of pride in his own abilities but a declaration of the strength provided by Christ. This sentence spells out at the practical level the slogan of his life in 1:21: “For me to live is Christ.” Paul’s point is that he has learned to live in either want or plenty through the enabling of Christ. Being in Christ, not being self-sufficient, has rendered both want and weal of little or no significance.
Illus: I recently read the story of a young man who went on a
short term missions trip to a leper colony on the island of Tobago, off the South American coastline. On that trip he saw up-close how leprosy destroyed the bodies and lives of the people. On his final day, he led the music during the worship service and asked if anyone had a favorite song they wanted to sing. When he did, a woman raised her hand and he saw the most disfigured face he’d ever seen. She had no ears and no nose. Her lips were gone. Yet she raised a fingerless hand and asked, “Could we sing ‘Count Your Many Blessings’?” The missionary started the song but he couldn’t finish. Later somebody commented, “I suppose you’ll never be able to sing the song again.” He answered, “Oh yes---but I’ll never sing it the same way.” This lady taught that young man the secret of thanksgiving that day—to be content with whatever God puts on your plate. If that sounds humanly impossible, good. Paul wants us to understand that by yourself you will never be truly content.
CONCLUSION: In closing, let us remember that:
The secret of contentment is found in a personal relationship with the living Christ who loves us and who is able to give us adequate strength to cope with life in spite of our circumstances.
1. True contentment comes through Christ.
2. A person that is contented Is confident in God’s providence
3. A person that is contented Is satisfied with little.
4. A person that is contented Is independent from
circumstances
5. A person that is contented Is strengthened by divine power.
Illus: The story of Dietrich Bonhoeffer is very fascinating. He was professor of theology at the University of Berlin in Germany in the 1930s. He could not go along with Hitler’s anti-Jewish radically German vision. With others he set up an underground church which explicitly refused to align itself with Hitler’s Third Reich. It was very dangerous. In 1937 he was fired from his job and he fled to London. Two years later Bonhoeffer was faced with the choice. He had been offered one of the most prestigious theology appoint-ments in the world, lecturing at Union Seminary in New York. Or he could return to Germany to head up an illegal underground seminary for the churches that refused to go along with Hitler. He decided that his faith was meaningless if he took the easy route. He headed back to Germany and found Hitler so evil that abandoned his commitment to nonviolence and was associated in a plot to assassinate Hitler. The plot failed and in 1943 Bon-hoeffer was arrested. While he was in prison he led worship services for his fellow prisoners until the day of April 9, 1945, when he was executed by the Nazis. In the final days of his life, while languishing in a Nazi concentration camp waiting for execution, we might understand if Bonhoeffer was desper-ately unhappy. And yet this is what he wrote in his last letter: “What is happiness and unhappiness? It depends so little on circumstances; it really depends on what happens inside a person.”
Prepared by: Gerald R. Steffy
6206 N. Hamilton Rd., Peoria, IL 62614
E-Mail: grsteffy@yahoo.com to receive
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