The Secret of Being Content

What you do first when you open a birthday card can reveal a something about the kind of person you are… a content person or a discontent person. A person content in their circumstances rejoices to receive a communication from their friend, a person discontent in their circumstances rejoices at the chance to buy some contentment.

We think we can find contentment in our circumstances. If we just have the right spouse, the bigger house, new car, more lucrative job, newer phone, more followers, cooler clothes, etc… then we will be content.

😓 Even though we realize that contentment is not contingent upon our circumstances, we continue to live discontented lives. Discontentment is a heart problem.

In Philippians 4:10-14 Paul reveals the secret of how we can be content in any circumstance—whether we are poor or wealthy, whether hungry or full.

Be content in any circumstance?! How is that even possible? Paul explains that being content is learning the two-sided secret of being independent of your circumstances and being dependent on Christ.

💻1. Learn to be independent of your circumstances (Philippians 4:10-12)

Turn in your Bibles with me to Philippians 4:10-11 where Paul explains what it looks like for him to be independent of his circumstances.

Philippians 4:10–11 ESV

10 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.

📖 Contentment is not contingent on circumstances

Paul was thankful for the card, not the money.

Paul had just received a gift [hold up card] and he was writing his “Thank you” letter… which is the book of Philippians in our Bibles. If you’ve ever written a “Thank you” then you know it is tricky to word your note in such a way you sound grateful for their affection more than for their gift. That is the balance Paul keeps when he writes these verses.

Without directly thanking them, he makes it clear that he rejoices in the Lord because of their gift. He is careful not to give the misunderstanding that his strength and contentment lay in his material provisions.

Paul’s contentment was not about his circumstances because…

He learned the skill of being content.

Through experience and practice gained the knowledge of how to handle any circumstance… “ I know how to be ...”

He describes himself as being “self-sufficient” or independent from his circumstances.

Because Paul learned to step back and look at his circumstances from the outside to expose the lies, to embrace the truth, and to enact an appropriate faith response he was able to…

Be content through the full spectrum of life’s circumstances.

He was content from humiliation to success

Philippians 4:12 ESV

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.

What does it look like to...

✅ Be content in difficult situations (Rock Bottom)

Be responsible to do all you should do to improve the situation > Jobs, abusive friendships, personal health, etc...

Be receptive to what God wants to do in your life through the situation.

“Contentment means we work hard on this broken world but always with a yielding to God in our hearts, a glad submission to His will, and a quiet confidence that as we do our part, God will do His part. Contentment is pursuing God’s daily agenda even if it means walking directly into the storm.” Swenson, Richard. Contentment: The Secret to a Lasting Calm. Colorado Springs, CO: NavPress, 2014.

He was content from hunger to being well provided

What does it look like to...

✅ Be content when facing plenty

Being generous as were the Philippians who gave “beyond their means” 2 Corinthians 8:3

What grace do I need from God today to handle prosperity well? Wealth is a blessing, but also it is a dangerous thing.

We must learn to be independent from any of these circumstances by looking at our situation from the outside, exposing the lies, embracing the truth, and enacting an appropriate faith response

💡Playing with a broken tuner

Things did not go well the very first time I played guitar in a church worship gathering.

I had one of these tuner pedals. Most of you have never used one of these so I should explain that you connect your guitar into the tuner with a cable. Then when you step on the pedal, it shows you if your guitar strings are in tune or not. If your string is off the correct pitch the little line is leaning one way or another. As you turn the knobs on the guitar, you work to get the little line centered on the tuner which indicates that your string is playing the right pitch.

Because this was my first time ever playing guitar in a worship gathering in a church, I was very nervous. I tuned my guitar carefully multiple times. I practice the songs on my own ahead of time. Then the piano player started the first song and I strummed along… and something terrible came out of my guitar… It sounded completely out of tune!

I scrambled with the tuner again desperately trying to get my guitar in tune so that I could play along with the piano… but try as I might… it just sounded terrible. So I just had to stop playing.

What I should have done was look at my situation from the outside… to step back from the panic of the moment and objectively see what was going on. The piano was in tune. I was not. I was carefully tuned according to my pedal. Can you see what was wrong? The pedal was not calibrated correctly! I had bumped the calibration button. So I was frantically tuning my guitar to the wrong notes.

I needed to stop and look at my circumstance from the outside so that I could expose what was the real problem and then I could have embraced the correct pitch. Then I could enact my new response by tuning the guitar to the correct pitch.

We need to learn with Paul to be independent from our circumstances by...

✅ Look at your circumstance from the outside.

Expose the lies > if I only had this, then I would be happy, if I was just a little thinner, if I had a better job, if , if, if… then life would be good.

Embrace the truth > What does the Bible say about my situation? We don’t need to worry and be anxious about life… but we can seek Him first and know that He is our provider, no amount of money or stuff can ever make us genuinely happy, God is the perfect creator who made my large nose, freckles, and whatever doesn’t match up to our cultures ideal body was perfectly made ...

Enact my appropriate faith response > thank God for the way He made me, be generous with what God has given me, apply for a better job if necessary but entrust my career to God...

Being content is learning the two-sided secret of being independent of your circumstances and being dependent on Christ.

💻2. Learn to be dependent on Christ (Philippians 4:13-14)

Paul describes himself as not only being independent of his circumstances, but also as strong enough to do all things by being dependent.

Philippians 4:13 ESV

13 I can do all things through him who strengthens me.

Why do we need to be dependent on Christ to be content?

📖 Contentment is a heart issue.

😓We can continually take the supplements of more money, more friends, more success that seem to make our hearts happy… We can try to manage our sinful hearts by getting really good at being independent of our circumstances. But ultimately we still have a chronic heart condition—sin. But Sin is the rebellious condition of our hearts against God and the determination do things our own way. The Bible makes clear that all humanity is born sinful and their rebellion bears the penalty of death in hell for eternity. There is only one cure that will heal the root problem in our hearts… the new heart, new life, new forgiveness that Jesus made available to you when He took your place on the cross. Ezekiel 11:19-20

Ezekiel 11:19–20 ESV

19 And I will give them one heart, and a new spirit I will put within them. I will remove the heart of stone from their flesh and give them a heart of flesh, 20 that they may walk in my statutes and keep my rules and obey them. And they shall be my people, and I will be their God.

⛑️If you confess that you are a sinner, and put your faith in Jesus who took your place dying on the cross, who rose again from the dead gaining the victory over sin and death, then you are given a new heart by God’s grace.

💻Grace can be defined as God’s Riches At Christ’s Expense. Believer in Jesus, God’s riches have been poured into you at Christ’s expense.

True contentment, then, is only possible with a new heart.

Because Paul had this new heart...

He was fully confident in God as His loving, sovereign Provider.

Philippians 4:19 “19 And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.”

Romans 8:32 “32 He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?”

Christ not only gives us a new heart that can be content, but

📖 Christ is uniquely positioned to be our ongoing source of strength.

Christ is the One who was content to be humbled, to be obedient to death on a cross, to be gloriously exalted. Philippians 2:7-9

Philippians 2:7–9 ESV

7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 9 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name,

This Jesus, demonstrating perfect contentment in being brought as low as possible and now being exalted as high as possible, is the the same One who now strengthens us to be content.

Even with a new heart, even if you practice being independent of your circumstances by looking at your situation from the outside, you will find that being content is more than you can handle in your own strength. The only thing you can do is seek to grow closer to Christ.

💡Controlling your weather

“Happiness is like the weather that can change daily, even hourly. It is sunny and warm at noon, but dark and stormy at supper — just like our mood. Contentment is more like the climate. Perhaps we feel it is impossible to change either the weather or the climate. Actually, we can change both. Just move. If we do not like rainy weather, we can pack up our things and move to a drier climate. This is precisely what the Bible tells us to do about contentment. If we are not content, we can change our character by moving closer to Christ.” Swenson, Richard. Contentment: The Secret to a Lasting Calm. Colorado Springs, CO: NavPress, 2014.

✅ Seek to grow closer to Christ

If you set your affections on Christ, knowing and loving him, then He promises to satisfy your longing to grow closer to Christ.

Psalm 37:4 “4 Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.”

Your time beholding the glory of the Lord in personal Bible study, worshipping Him in the community of the church, and lovingly responding through obedience to His voice is a process that God promises to reward.

2 Corinthians 3:18 “18 And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.”

Now that Paul has explained why he is content with or without their gift, the commends them for their act of generosity that demonstrated their participation in his ministry and afflictions. Philippians 4:14

Philippians 4:14 ESV

14 Yet it was kind of you to share my trouble.

Paul was thankful for the card, more than the money because he had...

Conclusion

📖 Learn to be independent of your circumstances and dependent on Christ.

✅ Give glory to God by having faith in His provisions for your needs and happiness.

✅ Content yourself in the Lord who is with you and strengthens you.

💡I am fighting the update cycle mindset.

The update cycle is when something old and worn is ready to be replaced. Houses may go through an update cycle every 20-30 years when they are renovated. Cars are replaced, depending on your income level and ability to maintain them, every 6-15 years. Computers and technology are replaced more frequently. The person who was once the proud owner of a new, shiny car or phone eventually becomes the person feeling stuck with a partially functioning item. When you are the person stuck with a gimpy item on the tail end of the update cycle, it is not easy to be content.

I am struggling with the mindset that I should get something new. My watch is near the end of the update cycle. You might say that I should be content with what I have and not upgrade! You might say that it is not a big deal… if I can afford replacement then go ahead. But I hope you are seeing now that there is more at stake here than money or my “quality of life.” Am I really putting my faith in God as my perfect, all powerful, trustworthy provider? Am I looking for happiness from momentary thrills or am I allowing God to arrest my affections and to delight my heart in His everlasting love and never wavering presence?

I plan to update my watch eventually, but when I sense that discontented attitude arising within me, I must practice what I’ve begun to learn, to look at my circumstance from the outside. I must expose the lies that happiness comes from the stuff I have and that I am entitled to the newest and best. I must embrace the truth that God has richly provided everything I need. I must enact my faith response by delighting myself in the Lord and allowing Him to satisfy my heart.

In what ways do you need to learn to be content? In whatever situations we find ourselves in, we can be content. As Paul says, “I can do all things through him who gives me strength.”