Contentment
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I brought a $100 bill with me today, and I am going to give it to one of you. Is there anyone here who could use or would like $100 to take home with you!
Our theme today is contentment.
18 Here is what I have seen: It is good and fitting for one to eat and drink, and to enjoy the good of all his labor in which he toils under the sun all the days of his life which God gives him; for it is his heritage.
Ecclesiastes 6:9 NLS
Enjoy what you have rather than desiring what you don’t have. Just dreaming about nice things is meaningless—like chasing the wind.
Philippians 4:10–13 (NKJV)
10 But I rejoiced in the Lord greatly that now at last your care for me has flourished again; though you surely did care, but you lacked opportunity. 11 Not that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content: 12 I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. 13 I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.
Paul says that he learned to be content!
6 Now godliness with contentment is great gain. 7 For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. 8 And having food and clothing, with these we shall be content.
5 Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”
Contentment defined: An attitude of gratefulness because God always provides everything I truly need.
19 And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.
Live for Others (Embracing the Truth)
To be content is to be willing to accept a situation, believing in God’s purpose even beyond our own understanding. True contentment brings a quietly satisfied and happy well-being.
The New Bible Dictionary, Third Edition Contentment
‘is sufficient’. autarkeia denotes freedom from reliance upon others, whether other persons or other things; hence the satisfaction of one’s needs (2 Cor. 9:8) or the control of one’s desires (1 Tim. 6:6, 8). It is not a passive acceptance of the status quo, but the positive assurance that God has supplied one’s needs, and the consequent release from unnecessary desire. The Christian can be ‘self-contained’ because he has been satisfied by the grace of God (2 Cor. 12:9).
The “secret,” of course, is no secret at all. In passage after passage the Bible plainly shows that one learns to be content by recognizing and appropriating the truth that “all things work together for good”—for believers who love God (Romans 8:28). This statement is a straightforward reference to God’s gracious providential ordering of events. If He has ordered all circumstances in His love toward His own, then they can content themselves with those circumstances. The contentment comes from knowing that, because of His love, God does nothing but good for His own. They may not at the time understand how that is true any more clearly than Joseph did during his times of trial. But in the end, along with Joseph, they may say that God meant their trials for good (Genesis 50:20).
Nelson’s Complete Book of Stories, Illustrations & Quotes (Someone Once Said …)
What a foolish thing is this, that because I have not got what I want, I will not enjoy the comfort of what I have! There is a great deal of folly in a discontented heart.—Jeremiah Burroughs, Puritan preacher
Is it wrong to want things? God has given us desires.
17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.
33 But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.
Would anyone here like someone to give them $100? I would too.
All of the things we want originate in God-given desires. Satan takes the good things God has created and twists them into selfish and evil desires. He creates discontent by encouraging us to compare ourselves to others and focusing on what we do not have.
How do we learn to be content?
1. Contentment is not found in wanting nothing, but in wanting what God wants.
1. Contentment is not found in wanting nothing, but in wanting what God wants.
1 Thessalonians 5:18 (NKJV)
18 in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. 2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
2. Contentment begins with thanksgiving.
2. Contentment begins with thanksgiving.
Psalm 100:4–5 (NKJV)
4 Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, And into His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him, and bless His name. 5 For the Lord is good; His mercy is everlasting, And His truth endures to all generations.
1 Chronicles 16:34 (NKJV)
34 Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever.
18 in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
Romans 1:16–24 (NKJV)
16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. 17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “The just shall live by faith.” 18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, 19 because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them. 20 For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse, 21 because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Professing to be wise, they became fools, 23 and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man—and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things. 24 Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves,
3. Contentment grows with our faith.
3. Contentment grows with our faith.
We cannot be content until we believe in our hearts that God has our best interest at heart.
6 But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.
Satan & Eve
Genesis 3:1–6 (NKJV)
1 Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, “Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?”
2 And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; 3 but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.’ ”
4 Then the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. 5 For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate.
26 Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. 27 Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God.
28 And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. 29 For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.
4. Contentment shrinks with comparison.
4. Contentment shrinks with comparison.
13 Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone. 14 But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. 15 Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.
16 Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren. 17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.
13 And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 If you ask anything in My name, I will do it.
Return to contentment through prayer, Bible reading and thanksgiving.
How many of you can rejoice with your classmate who just received $100. Some of you have been thinking about all the ways you could spend that $100 if only it had been you.