THE CONTENT OF CONTENTMENT.
Philippians 4:10-19 I rejoiced in the Lord greatly that now at length you have revived your concern for me. You were indeed concerned for me, but you had no opportunity. 11 Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. 12 I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. 13 I can do all things through him who strengthens me. 14 Yet it was kind of you to share my trouble.
15 And you Philippians yourselves know that in the beginning of the gospel, when I left Macedonia, no church entered into partnership with me in giving and receiving, except you only. 16 Even in Thessalonica you sent me help for my needs once and again. 17 Not that I seek the gift, but I seek the fruit that increases to your credit.
18 I have received full payment, and more. I am well supplied, having received from Epaphroditus the gifts you sent, a fragrant offering, a sacrifice acceptable and pleasing to God. 19 And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.
PROPOSITION: CHRISTIANS NEED TO EXPERIENCE CONTENTMENT IN THEIR LIVES
INTRODUCTION: Mattoon has written in his commentary, “Most people seek contentment in things or possessions. When I say "most people," this includes Christians. True contentment is found in the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul is writing from prison, yet, he is still content. Life does not consist of what you possess. God is not impressed with our possessions or accomplishments; He is impressed with our obedience and faithfulness to Him.”
FOR THE FOLLOWER OF CHRIST, CONTENTMENT IS ONE OF THE THINGS WE SHOULD BE STRIVING FOR. IT IS SAFE TO SAY THAT WE ARE BETTER FOLLOWERS AND SERVANTS WHEN WE ARE CONTENT.
OPENING ILLUSTRATION: PERHAPS YOU REMEMBER THIS, ….
The Seattle CEO who reaped a publicity bonanza when he boosted the salaries of his employees to a minimum of $70,000 a year says he has fallen on hard times.
Dan Price, 31, tells the New York Times that things have gotten so bad he’s been forced to rent out his house.
Only three months ago Price was generating headlines—and accusations of being a socialist -- when he announced the new salary minimum for all 120 employees at his Gravity Payments credit card processing firm. Price said he was doing it, and slashing his $1 million pay package to pay for it, to address the wealth gap.
“I’m working as hard as I ever worked to make it work,” he told the Times in a video that shows him sitting on a plastic bucket in the garage of his house. “I’m renting out my house right now to try and make ends meet myself.”
The Times article said Price’s decision ended up costing him a few customers and two of his “most valued” employees, who quit after newer employees ended up with bigger salary hikes than older ones.
“He gave raises to people who have the least skills and are the least equipped to do the job, and the ones who were taking on the most didn’t get much of a bump,” Gravity financial manager Maisey McMaster, 26, told the paper.
She said when she talked to Price about it, he treated her as if she was being selfish and only thinking about herself.
“That really hurt me,” she said. “I was talking about not only me, but about everyone in my position.”
Approaching burnout, she quit.
Grant Moran, 29, also quit, saying the new pay-scale was disconcerting
“Now the people who were just clocking in and out were making the same as me,” he told the paper. “It shackles high performers to less motivated team members.”
Price said McMaster and Moran, or even critic Rush Limbaugh, the talk show host, were not wrong.
“There’s no perfect way to do this and no way to handle complex workplace issues that doesn’t have any downsides or trade-offs,” he said.
The Times said customers who left were dismayed at what Price did, viewing it as a political statement. Others left fearful Gravity would soon hike fees to pay for salary increases.
Brian Canlis, co-owner of a family restaurant, already worried about how to deal with Seattle’s new minimum wage, told Price the pay raise at Gravity “makes it harder for the rest of us.”
“It pains me to hear Brian Canlis say that,” Price said. “The last think I would ever want to do is make a client feel uncomfortable.”
The Times said Price has dozens of new clients inspired by his move but those accounts won’t start generating profits for at least another year.
Making matters worse for Price is a lawsuit his older brother filed two weeks after the pay hike announcement.
Lucas Price, who owns 30 percent of the company, accuses his brother of taking millions of dollars out of the company while denying him the benefits of his minority ownership.
The lawsuit has forced Gravity to pay mounting legal fees at a time when the new salary scale is being eaten up by profits.
“We don’t have a margin of error to pay those legal fees,” Dan Price said.
TRANSITION: CONTENTMENT WILL NEVER BE FOUND OUTSIDE A RELATIONSHIP WITH CHRIST. SO, WHAT DOES THE BIBLE HAVE TO SAY ABOUT BEING CONTENT?
I. THE INTRODUCTION TO CONTENTMENT
a. CONTENTMENT IS REVEALED THROUGH THE CONCERN OF THE PHILIPPIAN CHURCH
i. THEY HAD A CONCERN THAT WAS UNABLE TO BE SATISFIED
ii. THEY DID NOT LET THIS CONCERN DIE
1. IT STAYED ALIVE
2. IT WAS REVIVED – MEANING TO SHOOT UP AGAIN
3. IT HAD OPPORTUNITY
a. THE NEEDS OF PAUL
b. THE PERCEPTION THAT NEEDS WERE GOING UNMET
b. CONTENTMENT IS LEARNED BEHAVIOR
i. THAT MEANS THAT CONTENTMENT IS A CHOICE FOR EACH AND EVERY BELIEVER.
ii. THAT MEANS CONTENTMENT IS A PROGRESSIVE BEHAVIOR
iii. THAT MEANS CONTENTMENT CAN BE AN ABANDONED BEHAVIOR
c. THE BASIS OF CONTENTMENT IS NOT IN THINGS
i. SECURITY IN STUFF HINDER CONTENTMENT
ii. SECURITY OF STUFF HINDERS CHRISTIAN GIVING
II. WHAT THE BIBLE HAS TO SAY ABOUT CONTENTMENT
a. Luke 3:14 (ESV) Soldiers also asked him, “And we, what shall we do?” And he said to them, “Do not extort money from anyone by threats or by false accusation, and be content with your wages.”
b. 1 Timothy 6:8 (ESV)
8 But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content.
c. Hebrews 13:5 (ESV)
5 Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”
d. 2 Corinthians 12:10 (ESV)
10 For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
e. 1 Timothy 6:6 (ESV)
6 But godliness with contentment is great gain,
i. THE BIBLE SPEAKS ABOUT THE VIRTUE OF CONTENTMENT
ii. THE BIBLE SPEAKS ABOUT THE COMMAND OF CONTENTMENT
A COMMAND CAN BE A VIRTUE WHEN IT IS ACCEPTED IN HUMILITY
III. THE CHARACTERISTICS OF CONTENTMENT
a. CONTENTMENT IS CONFIDENT WITH GOD’S PROVIDENCE – VERSE 10
i. DO NOT KNOW THE REASON FOR THE REVIVED CONCERN AND OPPORTUNITY
1. ISSUE IN THE CHURCH
2. POVERTY OF THE PEOPLE
3. THERE CAN BE MANY THINGS THAT TAKE AWAY OUR ABILITY TO INTERACT WITH OUR CONCERN
ii. WHAT WE DO KNOW IS THAT IS HAD NOW BEEN REVIVED!
1. TEN YEARS IN THE COMING
iii. PAUL’S ATTITUDE IS ONE OF GRACE AND CONFIDENCE IN THE PROVIDENCE OF GOD
1. AN UNDERSTANDING OF SOVEREIGNTY PERMITS US TO BE CONTENT
a. GOD REMEMBERS AND ACTS ALWAYS!
2. EVERYTHING IS CONTROLLED BY GOD
3. WHEN I TRUST IN GOD’S PROVIDENCE, THEN I CAN BE CONTENT!
a. PROVIDENCE IS WHERE GOD WEAVES EACH AND EVERY OCCURRENCE TO PRODUCE HIS DESIRED WILL
b. CONTENTMENT IS SATISFIED WITH LITTLE – VERSE 11
i. PAUL WAS NOT IMPLYING NEED WHEN HE SPEAKS FROM WANT
ii. PAUL IS IMPLYING THAT HE HAS LEARNED CONTENTMENT THROUGH THE WANT
1. TAUGHT HIM TO LIVE
2. DIFFICULT SITUATION DID NT PRODUCE DISCONTENT
a. HOUSE ARREST
b. SPARSE DIET
c. SATISFIED WITH WHAT HE HAD, NOT JEALOUS TO HAVE MORE
3. DIFFICULT IN OUR SOCIETY
a. WE WANT MORE AT THE COST OF SOMEONE ELSE IF NECESSARY
b. WE THINK BIGGER AND BETTER BRING CONTENTMENT WHEN THE REALLY BRING THE NEED FOR BIGGER AND BETTER
c. SO CONTENTMENT IS ALWAYS JUST OUT OF REACH
d. AND WE ARE HAMSTERS ON A WHEEL
THE CHIEF END OF MAN IS NOT TO HAVE OUR NEEDS MET BUT TO GLORIFY GOD AND ENJOY HIM FOREVER!
c. CONTENTMENT IS INDEPENDENT OF CIRCUMSTANCES – VERSE 12
i. PAUL KNOWS HOW AND HAS LEARNED
ii. PAUL LIVED ABOVE HIS CIRCUMSTANCES
1. HIS FOCUS WAS HEAVENLY, NOT EARTHLY
2 Corinthians 4:17 For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison,
d. CONTENTMENT IS STRENGTHENED BY DIVINE POWER – VERSE 13
i. PAUL’S STRENGTH FOR CONTENTMENT WAS CHRIST
Galatians 2:20 (ESV) I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
ii. PAUL’S FOCUS IN THIS VERSE IS PHYSICAL THINGS, NOT SPIRITUAL THINGS
iii. GOD STRENGTHENS US TO GO THROUGH ANYTHING.
iv. WHEN WE REACH THE END OF OUR RESOURCES, GOD’S ARE STILL THERE!
Jeremiah Burroughs observes,
A Christian finds satisfaction in every circumstance by getting strength from another, by going out of himself to Jesus Christ, by his faith acting upon Christ, and bringing the strength of Jesus Christ into his own soul, he is thereby enabled to bear whatever God lays on him, by the strength that he finds from Jesus Christ... There is strength in Christ not only to sanctify and save us, but strength to support us under all our burdens and afflictions, and Christ expects that when we are under any burden, we should act our faith upon him to draw virtue and strength from him. (The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment, 63)
e. CONTENTMENT IS PRE-OCCUPIED WITH THE WELL BEING OF OTHERS – VERSE 14
i. PAUL USES THE WORD NEVERTHELESS OR MOREOVER TO LET THE PHILIPPIAN CHURCH KNOW THAT THEY HAD DONE WELL
ii. PAUL GAVE THEM A TEN YEAR HISTORY OF EVENTS LEADING UP TO NOW
1. PREACHING THE GOSPEL
2. LEAVING MACEDONIA
3. LACK OF SUPPORT FOR HIS MINISTRY
4. THE GIFTS HE RECEIVED FROM THEM IN THESSALONICA
5. THE CONTENTMENT OF PAUL – THAT GOD WOULD PROVIDE SOME WAY ALLOWED HIM TO MINISTER FREELY AND FOCUS ON THE NEEDS OF OTHERS
IN THE END CONTENTMENT PROVIDED AN ACCEPTABLE OFFERING TO GOD, A FIRM ASSURANCE OF GOD’S CONTINUED CARE, AND THE ABILITY TO GIVE GOD THE GLORY.
ONE OF THE REASONS WE CAN NOT ALLOW GOD GLORY IN EVERYTHING AND MEAN IT IS BECAUSE WE ARE NOT CONTENT IN OUR WALK WITH CHRIST.
AS LONG AS WE HEDGE OUR BETS, LIVE BEYOND OUR ABILITY, SEEK TO FIND CONTENTMENT IN CREATION AND NOT THE CREATOR, WE WILL NEVER BE CONTENT ENOUGH TO BE SERVANTS.
