The Secret to a Satisfied Life
Php 4:4 Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, Rejoice.
5 Let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand.
6 Be careful for nothing; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.
7 And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
8 Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.
9 Those things, which ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do: and the God of peace shall be with you.
10 But 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
11 Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.
12 I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: everywhere and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need.
13 I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.
Would you like to be a contented person? I already know the answer to that question. You are probably saying, preacher just tell me what to do and I'll do it. There are several things that can be learned from this passage in Philippians that will help us.
I. We need to praise God instead of pouting when we don't get what we want. V. 4.
"...in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. Not to inform Him but to invite Him to meet your needs.
ILL - Missionary Robert Porteous and his wife were taken prisoners by Chinese communist bandits in 1931. This missionary couple was led to a lonely spot on top of a hill where they were to be executed. The Chinese leader said, "This is the place." and the executioner took a long knife from its holder and raised it above the necks of the courageous couple.
Certain death seemed imminent. What would you do in such a situation? This couple sang a hymn! Instead of crying and begging for mercy, the couple began to sing song of praise. The communist bandits stared open-mouthed as they heard Porteous and his wife sing:
"Face to face with Christ, my Savior, Face to face-what will it be? When with rapture I behold him, Jesus Christ who died for me."
These two missionaries were ready for death and did not take their lead from the men who held their lives in their hands. Instead they followed the leading of the Holy Spirit and worshiped their Savior whom they expected to see when their lives were taken from them. It appeared that this would be their last song. But, no order was given for their execution. The executioner returned the knife to its place, and the couple was released.
II. We need to display gentleness (sweet reasonableness) with others. Moderation has with it the idea of surrendering a portion of our rights in consideration of others. V. 5
III. We need to stop worrying and start praying for what we need. V. 6-7 Jesus said, that we are to "...take no thought..." for our food, our fashion, our fitness and our future! God's peace will "...keep..." our hearts and minds if we trust Him for what we need.
IV. We need to think about the right things and to do that we must discipline our thought life. V. 8-10
Paul says that they should follow his example. What they had, "learned, and received, and heard, and seen..." they were to do. If we have our eyes on the people we will become discontented. If we look on "...the things of others..." we will always be comparing what they are and what they have with what we are and have and that is a recipe for discontent. We are what we think!
ILL - The godly Scottish preacher Andrew Bonar penned a diary entry. He wrote, "This day 20 years ago I preached for the first time as an ordained minister. It is amazing that the Lord has spared me and used me at all. I have no reason to wonder that He used others far more than He does me. Yet envy is my hurt, and today I have been seeking grace to rejoice exceedingly over the usefulness of others, even where it cast me into the shade. Lord, take away this envy from me!" (Andrew Bonar.)
God, in His mercy, is constantly standing between us and ourselves. He knows what is best for us when, most of the time, we have little clue of it. Often He puts us in the "shade" of others just to protect us from ourselves and our own inability to deal with the acclaim in a Godly way. He also knows that covetousness, the desire to want something that belongs to another, is one of our human failings that so often takes control of our lives and leads to other sins like adultery and theft. That is why God will often put us in the shade of others so that we can learn to "rejoice" the fortune of others when they achieve and we do not. It's only through this kind of conditioning that we are able to deal with covetousness in a righteous way. Practicing contentment in the shade of others is the perfect way to adjust to our lives as God has given them to us. Besides, what better place to kick back and relax than in someone else's shade.
V. We need to recognize that we are on a journey and God is trying to teach us to trust Him for everything. We must believe that we can do all things when we rest in His sufficiency. V. 11-13
A good reading of verse 13 is "...I will always be strengthened as I depend on Christ who strengthens me with His (dunamis) power."
Conclusion: Why is contentment so important? First, You will never be happy and joy filled and joyful if you are not contented. It is the secret to a happy life. Second, we will never be effective for God without it. Someone who is always complaining and discontented is a very poor witness for Christ. Third, if you are a contented person you can pass on that legacy to your family. They can follow you like the Philippians were urged to follow Paul. You can pass on a life that is characterized by having the peace with God and the peace of God.
Text Illustration:
Andor Foldes is now seventy-two, but he recalls how praise made all the difference for him early in his career. His first recollection of an affirming word was at age seven when his father kissed him and thanked him for helping in the garden. He remembers it over six decades later, as though it were yesterday. But the account of another kiss that changed his life says a great deal about our inner need for purpose. At age sixteen, living in Budapest, Foldes was already a skilled pianist. But he was at his personal all-time low because of a conflict with his piano teacher. In the midst of that very troubled year, however, one of the most renowned pianists of the day came to the city to perform. Emil von Sauer was not only famous because of his abilities at the piano, but he could also claim the notoriety of being the last surviving pupil of Franz Liszt. Sauer requested that young Foldes play for him. Foldes obliged the master with some of the most difficult works of Bach, Beethoven, and Schumann. When he finished, Sauer walked over to him and kissed him on the forehead.
"My son," he said, "when I was your age I became a student of Liszt. He kissed me on the forehead after my first lesson, saying, 'Take good care of this kiss -- it comes from Beethoven, who gave it me after hearing me play.' I have waited for years to pass on this sacred heritage, but now I feel you deserve it."
Beethoven had kissed, Franz List who had kissed Saur who in turn kissed Foldes. We can leave a heritage of godly contentment to our children and grandchildren which "...is great gain..." in my mind the greatest gain!
Tim Kimmel, Little House on the Freeway, pp. 41-42.
