Title- Contentment
Text- Philippians 4:11-13
Philippians 4:10-13 10 But I rejoiced in the Lord greatly, that now at last you have revived your concern for me; indeed, you were concerned before, but you lacked opportunity. 11 Not that I speak from want, for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am. 12 I know how to get along with humble means, and I also know how to live in prosperity; in any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need. 13 I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.
I. Contentment with God’s providence
II. Contentment is a learned behavior
III. Contentment isn’t about circumstances
IV. Contentment is only found in God
V. Obstacles to contentment
a. Greed
b. Envy
c. Entitlement
VI. Building contentment
a. Giving
b. Thankfulness
c. Faith
There is a YouTube clip making the rounds right now that is very appropriate for this time of year. It’s a short clip of this comedian on the Conan O’Brien show. It’s titled “Everything’s amazing and nobody’s happy.” I don’t know if you’ve seen it.
Basically the guy is talking about how there are all these amazing technological marvels all around us, and yet people still complain and whine. My favorite part of the clip is when he talks about how people always complain about their airplane flights. They complain about turbulence or the seat not going back far enough, or having to sit on the runway waiting to take off. Yeah, but You are flying! You are sitting in a chair in the sky! Its amazing!
People complain about the flight taking too long, but you can go from New York to California in like 6 hours…it used to take people years to make that journey, and a bunch of people would probably die along the way.
His point is a great one. Even though life is more comfortable, even though we have some amazing technological breakthroughs, even though so much of what we have around is really is amazing, people are not any happier. In fact we seem to be getting less and less content as a society. We are becoming more and more spoiled and insulated and entitled. The result is a nationwide epidemic of discontentment.
We don’t truly know how to celebrate a holiday like thanksgiving because we have forgotten what it feels like to be genuinely grateful for anything. We think the world owes us something.
Discontentment and ingratitude are some of the ugliest symptoms of humanities sinful pride. And whether you are a believer or not, discontentment is something that we are all guilty of from time to time.
Since this week is Thanksgiving I wanted to take some time to talk about the importance or contentment. How do we become content, how do we stop taking things for granted, how can we find joy no matter what life brings?
One guy who had figured out the secret of contentment was the apostle Paul. In Philippians he talks about this contentment. Follow along as I read Philippians 4:10-13…
Verse 13 is a familiar one to us. It’s one of those Bible verses that has been ripped out of it’s context and applied to anything and everything. However, within the context of the passage we see that Paul is talking specifically about contentment through Christ.
Just for a little background info. The people in the church here have sent Paul a financial gift. They have supported Paul’s ministry in the past, but had not always been able to send him a financial gift.
So verse 10 is Paul thanking them for their financial blessing. He’s saying, thank you for demonstrating your concern for me again…not that you haven’t always been concerned for me, but you have lacked the opportunity to show it in the past.
Paul is thanking them for how they have blessed him. He recognizes that they have sacrificed to help meet his needs. He understands that that unexpected gift from them is really from the hand of God.
So first of all Contentment begins with recognizing God’s providence in our lives. If we don’t really believe in God’s sovereignty or His providence over our lives we will never be content with life. If we see ourselves as victims of circumstance we will be miserable.
God is in control when times are good and blessings are flowing in, and God is in control when times are tough and only hardships seem to come our way. The secret of contentment is in never forgetting that God is in charge.
Paul says, thanks a lot for the gift, I appreciate it, but my contentment doesn’t come from material things. Look at verse 11 again…
So we also see from this passage that contentment is a learned behavior. It’s not one of those things that comes naturally to us. It is not a reflex action. By nature we are complainers. By nature we grumble and whine and argue.
Probably the most obvious biblical example of this truth is found in Exodus. The people of God were under horrible slavery and oppression in Egypt. So God sends Moses to come in and help set them free. God miraculously grants their request and frees them, and almost immediately they start complaining. It’s hard to read Exodus without wondering how Moses didn’t just start clapping people.
We don’t have to learn how to complain, but we do have to learn how to be content. My kids have never been taught how to complain, but they are amazingly good at it. Lilly is particularly sensitive. She can complain about how her socks feel, that her lunch had carrots in it, or didn’t have carrots in it, that she didn’t get the right kind of sticker from her teacher. So we have been working especially hard with her to understand what complaining is and to not do it anymore.
We are trying to teach her how to refocus her attention onto positive things and ignore the minor inconveniences. But I’m finding that there are no minor inconveniences to a six year old.
True contentment is not about always being comfortable and always getting your way. If that’s the only way you can find peace, then you will be unhappy a lot. It isn’t found from what’s happening on the outside, but what’s going on inside.
In verse 13 Paul explains that contentment isn’t about circumstances. He says…12 I know how to get along with humble means, and I also know how to live in prosperity; in any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need.
Paul had been poor, and found contentment there. He had time when he was wealthy and well fed, and found contentment there. He had been imprisoned, mocked, persecuted, and even shipwrecked. There were times when he was surrounded by lots of loved ones, and times when he was all alone.
Through all of life’s ups and downs Paul had learned how to be content. He had learned the secret, and it the secret doesn’t have anything to do with what you have.
So what is it? What is the big secret to the contented life? How do we get to that point where we find true joy no matter what our circumstances are? The answer is found in verse 13…13 I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.
Contentment is only found in God.
True, lasting, lifelong contentment is only possible when we rely on Christ for everything. Verse 13 might be better translated… I have strength for all circumstances through Him who strengthens me.
So the secret to contentment is Christ. I can’t and won’t be content without Him. It doesn’t matter how great my circumstances might be, without Christ, I don’t have the ability to really enjoy life.
This just makes sense. If all my life is about is momentary attempts at happiness and pleasure, with no real understanding or expectation of eternity, then contentment will be elusive and fleeting.
So many people are unhappy in their jobs and in their marriages or with their own self image. They live only for the weekend and trudge through the week. They cast off their spouse in search of someone with better manors or more hair or less shortcomings. But no matter what they do they can never shake that gnawing sense of anxiety and unease that is stuck in their chest.
My guess is that a lot of you here this morning know exactly what I’m talking about. You have that weight sitting on your chest right now. Just because we place our faith in God doesn’t mean that the discontentment magically evaporates. I wish that were true! Again, contentment is a learned behavior. It takes an intentional act of the will. It takes a specific work of the Holy Spirit in our lives. And it takes time.
So the question you might be asking is how do I learn to be a contented Christian? How do I learn to this secret that Paul had discovered? How can I find real peace and joy at all times?
It starts by recognizing the obstacles to our contentment. In every single one of our lives there are things that stand between us and contentment like a huge brick wall that we can never seem to scale. Let me share just a few of the most common ones with you…
Perhaps the biggest obstacle to contentment is greed.
Hebrews 13:5-6 5 Make sure that your character is free from the love of money, being content with what you have; for He Himself has said, "I WILL NEVER DESERT YOU, NOR WILL I EVER FORSAKE YOU," 6 so that we confidently say, "THE LORD IS MY HELPER, I WILL NOT BE AFRAID. WHAT WILL MAN DO TO ME?"
How many of you have said, “If only I could win the lottery!” How many of you have said that just this week? If only I had just a little bit more money, a little bit less debt, a little more stuff. The words “If only” are contentment killers.
The love of money is not only the root of all kinds of evil, it is an empty love. It will never satisfy. It only breeds more discontentments. That’s why the Bible says it’s so hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.
Paul specifically mentions that he has learned how to be content with a little or with a lot. He appreciates times of plenty, but he doesn’t let times of poverty rob him of joy and peace in Christ.
Along those same lines, envy is another contentment killer. Envy is being greedy for what other people have. It is the constant desire to keep up with the Jonses. It is always looking towards the greener grass.
There is a reason that not coveting is in God’s list of top ten rules. It breeds selfishness and sin. There is no doubt that envy has directly contributed to the economic crisis this country is in.
People who can’t afford houses were given horrible loans by shady lenders. Our own government made the problem worse by claiming that these people deserved to have the American dream, even though they might not make as much as some people. They just fed the envy and greed. Eventually these people couldn’t pay their debts and were thrown into foreclosure. This happened on such a huge scale that it severely weakened the entire banking industry. Now those people are worse off then they were before.
Envy and greed have done significant damage in this country. They never lead to better things, only to ruin.
Another major obstacle to contentment is an unhealthy sense of entitlement. It’s thinking that you deserve something or that the world owes you something simply because of how awesome you are. It’s getting angry when you don’t get your own way. Paul addresses this over in 1 Timothy…
1 Timothy 6:6-8 6 But godliness actually is a means of great gain when accompanied by contentment. 7 For we have brought nothing into the world, so we cannot take anything out of it either. 8 If we have food and covering, with these we shall be content.
The world doesn’t owe you anything. You are not any more special or privileged than the next guy. You came into this world with nothing and you will leave it with nothing. Don’t think more highly of yourself than you should.
I think this form of discontentment is maybe the toughest one for some Christians to deal with. It manifests in self-righteousness, holier-than-though attitudes, and looking down your nose at people. Don’t be like that.
It’s nice that there is a national holiday to celebrate thanksgiving. It’s important to have a day to think about all the things we are grateful for. But there is without a doubt an even more popular unofficial holiday for greed and envy and entitlement. In this country it is the day right after Thanksgiving Day.
We even have a name for it- Black Friday. How fitting. Let me read you a portion of a news article from last year’s Black Friday celebration.
“Jdimytai Damour, died Nov. 28 after a mindless herd pressed heavily on the glass door of the Valley Stream, N.Y., Wal-Mart store, breaking it off its hinges moments before the 5 a.m. opening, with the crush of shoppers stampeding over Damour and injuring other workers.
Damour, a 6-foot-5-inch, 270-pound temporary employee, was hired for the holidays. The bargain-hungry mob knocked him to the floor amid broken glass and trampled him. He died not long after of asphyxiation.
Video of the incident shows emergency workers attempting to save his life with CPR as shoppers continue to stream hurriedly past in pursuit of bargains.”
It’s hard for us to fathom the kind of greed and envy that would cause a person to literally walk over another person just to get a good deal on a TV. This kind of tragedy is a morbid sort of benchmark of success for the advertising industry.
The singular goal of advertising is to create discontentment. It is to make you think that your toothpaste isn’t good enough, your car isn’t good enough, your shampoo isn’t good enough, and your life isn’t as good as it would be if you bought their products. And it works. It seeps into our brains and spoils our hearts.
Advertising prays on all those selfish, prideful, sinful aspects in humanity. Don’t be duped by slick ads. Don’t allow it to steal your contentment.
Each of you probably has your own barrio to contentment. Find it and squash it.
We can actively learn contentment in a couple of different ways. First, through giving. You know that feeling of peace and joy that you feel whenever you serve or volunteer your time, or give financially to someone in need, or spend some time with someone who is hurting? If not then you are really missing out on a lot of blessings.
When we give our time, our energy, and our resources to help others it has a way of adjusting our priorities and reminding us of how blessed we are. If all we ever do is take and look for the easy way out we will be unhappy people. If church attendance is merely a conscience soother or an ego boost, then we have the wrong motives.
The more you give the more you realize that stuff isn’t all that important in life. The more you greedily hang on to what you have the more selfish you will become. Start giving, even in little ways. It will help you learn the secret of contentment.
Second, we develop contentment when we practice thankfulness. How often do we actually stop and count our blessings? How often do we dwell on the good things? How often do we tell our spouse how much we appreciate them? How often do we thank God for our home and our job and our car? How good are we at expressing our appreciation to others who sacrifice for us?
I think we are lousy at showing our appreciation for things. The more we thank God for the good, the easier it is to thank Him when the bad stuff comes.
Next week we will look at James 1, it says…
James 1:2-4 2 Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, 3 knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. 4 And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.
We can even be thankful in the midst of trials because we know that God is in total control. He doesn’t waste anything in our lives.
Ultimately contentment is an outworking of our faith. Last week we talked about faith as the main theme of the book of James. Faith is trust in God and a relationship with Him. The closer our relationship with God is, the more we will trust Him and the less we will be bothered by the circumstances of life. We can rest easy because we are resting in His power and sufficiency, not our own.
That is how Paul can boldly proclaim… “I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.”
This thanksgiving make it a point to rest in Christ’s sufficiency, trusting Him in every trial, and thanking Him for every blessing.
