Learning Contentment

“One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple.” (Psalm 27:4, ESV)

Announcements:

Prayer this Tuesday evening @ 7p.m.

†CALL TO WORSHIP based on Psalm 27; John 4:23

Pastor Austin Prince

Minister: Let us worship God, our light and our salvation.

Congregation: The Lord is the stronghold of our lives.

Minister: We desire to live in God’s house and to seek God in his holy temple.

Congregation: We have come with shouts of joy, to sing and to make music to the Lord.

Minister: Let us worship God in spirit and in truth.

Congregation: Teach us your ways and make straight our paths, in this hour of worship and always.

†PRAYER OF ADORATION AND INVOCATION

O Lord our God, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. You alone are worthy of our worship for you are the one true and living God. Your purpose will be established and you accomplished all your good pleasure. Your mercies are great. You are compassionate and gracious; you so loved the world that you sent your only begotten son that whoever believes should not perish. Remember your promise to meet with your people when they have gathered in your name. Draw near to us as we draw near to you. We praise your unfailing love Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

†OPENING HYMN OF PRAISE #224

“Immortal, Invisible, God Only Wise”

† CONFESSION OF SIN & ASSURANCE OF PARDON

“let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the Lord, that he may have compassion on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.” (Isaiah 55:7, ESV)

Minister: O King and Father, your son died and was raised up in power. Now enable us to die to our sin in repentance so we may rise to new life in him. We confess to you:

Congregation: Lord, though you should guide us, we inform ourselves;

Though you should rule us, we control ourselves;

Though you should fulfill us, we console ourselves.

We think your truth too high, your will too hard,

Your power too remote, your love too free.

But they are not, and without them, we are of all people most miserable.

Heal our confused minds with your word, heal our divided wills with your law.

Heal our troubled consciences with your love and our anxious hearts with your presence.

All for the sake of your son, who loved us and gave himself for us. Amen.

ASSURANCE OF PARDON

“He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.” (1 Peter 2:24, ESV)

CONTINUAL READING OF SCRIPTURE Exodus 19

Paul Mulner, Elder

THE OFFERING OF TITHES AND OUR GIFTS

CONGREGATIONAL PRAYERS

THE LORD’S PRAYER

Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.

†PSALM OF PREPARATION #150C

“Sing Hallelujah! Praise the Lord!”

SERMON Philippians 4:10-13 // Learning Contentment

PRAYER OF ILLUMINATION

O Lord, as we open now your word, we pray that the eyes of our heart may be enlightened, so that we may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that we may be filled up to all the fullness of God.

TEXT

Philippians 4:10–13 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. 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.

AFTER SCRIPTURE

Teach me your way, O Lord and I will walk in your truth. Give me an undivided heart, that I may fear your name.

Introduction:

Last week we started our series on contentment, noting how God calls us to peace in every circumstance in Him. We are to remember, it wasn’t that we are the ones who were to guard and protect this peace. We aren’t given the command to be content, to rejoice always, to be anxious for nothing, and then left to our own devices to have contentment. We are weak, but He is strong. We are limited, but He is limitless. God is the one who is guarding our hearts and minds by His stability and His peace. We are not holding Him up; He is holding us up and making us stable.

But the reality is, contentment does not come to us innately or naturally— Man is born to trouble as the sparks fly upwards (Job. 5:7).

And here is where the great hope of contentment that we studied last week could leave us feeling disabused — we recognize that contentment is wonderful. We recognize that it is the faithful position of those who are in Christ. We noted that it is a remarkable testimony to the world of who Christ is and what is power does in our lives. We also heard that it comes through Christ, not by our efforts and straining. God guards us with contentment and peace, not us guarding Him. But we also know that it doesn’t happen right away, like flicking on a switch. It would be easy to look at contentment as a concept and not a reality.

And this is where our verses for today give us even further insight into the teaching of contentment. Paul has issued contentment as a command for the Christian, and in these verses, he follows up this call to faithfulness with his personal testimony of it. He says two times in these three verses that he “learned” contentment. It wasn’t something that he just had naturally (even Paul the great Apostle). He was qualified to speak on this subject because he had lived it and because he had learned it. And Paul’s dynamic range of experiences was much broader than most of ours — with the highs of seeing Jesus and being caught up in the third heaven, and the lows of imprisonments and beatings and shipwrecks. But through it all, his contentment was something that he learned. To use Paul’s phrase, he “learned the secret of contentment”. What is that secret? That’s what we want to find out today.

Now, I don’t want to completely isolate this sermon from last weeks - they go together. I don’t want to move on to learning a new aspect of contentment that wouldn’t reach and remind us of last week. So you should remember that Paul does give some steps and aids to learning contentment—we noted six things last week. In fact, in Philippians 3:1 Paul says to write the same things to you is no trouble for me and is beneficial to you. he has no problem repeating himself. So, let me remind you of those briefly and then show you how Paul expands upon those in our text for today:

Revisit Paul’s Instructions

We would do well to remember those things that Paul said bring about the contentment of God. Let us refresh our memories from last week. We noted six things that bring contentment:

Gratitude - Joy cover a multitude of worries

God’s Proximity - God is at hand. He isn’t far off — He’s close. He’s the shepherd whose voice you can recognize.

Prayer - we can talk to God about every need and we can ask for His help. We do this with thanksgiving. In prayer we are reoriented to gratitude and our desire are measured by being in God’s presence.

The peace of God - God’s peace is what guards our hearts and minds, not our feeble hearts and minds guarding His peace.

Meditation - we fill our thoughts and lives with good things. We unplug from our dramatically discontented media, advertising and social media

The God of peace - The peace of God comes from the God of peace. We get peace not by doing something but by receiving something. All of the prayer and meditating and thanksgiving aren’t tips and tricks to get peace, they are all oriented around a relationship to Christ. We get Christ. And when we get Christ, we get His peace.

Those are some ways to fight for contentment, but how is contentment learned? How did Paul learn it? Getting this into our bones is more than methods, we want to know the means of contentment. How do we learn where it comes form?

Let’s look at our text:

Philippians 4:10 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.

Philippians 4:11 Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content.

This letter to the Philippians is a thank you letter for their missionary support. That’s primarily what v.10 is about. They have been a support and a help to Paul and Philippians is a donor letter — a thank you to this congregation. And in v.11, he is telling them that he isn’t trying to pressure them to give him any more money. He says that he isn’t in need. He is appreciative of their support, but he is content either way. And then he takes the opportunity to press his earlier point about contentment—the point from the verses that we studied last week — and tells them where his contentment comes from.

If you remember from last week, in v.9 Paul has already said, “what you have learned and received and heard and seen in me–practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.” And here Paul gives his own testimony, that he has learned to be content in every circumstance. He says in v.12,

Philippians 4:12 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.

Paul briefly gives some of his credentials — He has been hungry and he has been full. He’s been around the block a few times. It’s worth noting how much he is underplaying it here. He let’s look in 2 Corinthians and tells them what he has been through:

“What I am saying with this boastful confidence, I say not as the Lord would but as a fool.” (2 Corinthians 11:17, ESV)

“Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they offspring of Abraham? So am I. Are they servants of Christ? I am a better one—I am talking like a madman—with far greater labors, far more imprisonments, with countless beatings, and often near death. Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea; on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers; in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure. And, apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches. Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to fall, and I am not indignant?” (2 Corinthians 11:21–29, ESV)

What secret does a man who went through these things know?

He knows contentment in both abundance and in need.

Let’s think about that for a minute. Both of these dynamics strain contentment in different ways.

In times of need, we can easily be discontent because we feel that we are lacking. If only we could have x,y, or z, then contentment would come. But Paul says that he knows a secret that can keep him content, even when he has legitimate needs—even in times of hunger and thirst.

And he knows how to be content in times of abundance. and here is where contentment can be sneaky and slippery. We can take “contentment”, or a sense of rest in the things that we do have or have accomplished, but our rest is in the wrong place. Our rest is in something volatile that cannot support the weight of our needs and our lives. Not only can it not support us, but it can be taken away .

What’s the secret?

Does someone who is earthly wealthy know?

What would it be like if you were doing an interview with a celebrity at the red carpet — they are beautiful and rich and everyone is calling out their name and taking their picture. What if you said, “Wow, What is your secret? How are you so content?” That would be a funny question, right? Because we assume someone who has so much is already content. Contentment in wealth and plenty is sort of hidden from our view — it takes the background.

And, by the way, this is where we are. We are the wealthiest generation that has ever lived, but discontentment still reaches us.

“I don’t know if we’re going to make it”, we say in our air-conditioned rooms while we sip our lattes.

But does a poor person know the secret? Do they think contentment is being more like the wealthy person or the celebrity? Their needs are right up front before their face, but do they know the secret?

The truth is, it would be a miracle to be content when poor and lowly, and it is just a miracle to be made content in plenty.

And Paul says that the secret to both is this:

Philippians 4:13 I can do all things through him who strengthens me.

Now, that sounds pretty church-y. But let’s take a second to consider what he is saying. All of life, anything that is thrown your way, can be shouldered in Christ. Knowing Him, and knowing His sovereignty—knowing His plans and purposes, can give you a strength to weather anything.

I also want to take a brief moment to define contentment. I didn’t do that last week and I should have. We probably all have a good grasp on what that word and concept means, but let me put a little more emphasis to that word by giving a brief definition. The one that I am going with comes from Nancy Wilson’s brief and great book called Learning Contentment, and it’s this: “Contentment is a deep satisfaction with the will of God” (repeat).

The secret of contentment through abundance and in need comes from being satisfied in God’s will.

He is the one who gives and he is the one who takes away. And when he takes away, that is also a gift. He gives by taking away.

Man thinks that when God gives it is a gift and when God takes away it is a punishment. And that may be in some regard, but ultimately he is giving in both situations.

I think about this all the time now as a parent. How frequently do I tell my children that they cannot have something or that they cannot have it right now? This happens about a hundred times a day. And my giving and my taking are because I love my children. It frequently will harm them if I give in to their every passion and desire. I love them regularly by taking things away that will harm them, or delaying their access to a desire.

And that’s the dynamic that is at play in Phil. 4:13. He can do all things under the hand of God.

Whatever God is doing, it is for you, not to you.

And when you know the Father’s heart, you are eager to learn at the school of contentment.

Contentment is a deep satisfaction with the will of God.

If contentment is a deep satisfaction in the will of God, then discontentment is displeasure in what God is doing.

We are not to hold God in a hostage situation - I will be content when you give me the job, the marriage, the money, etc

“And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.” (Romans 8:28, ESV)

“It is good for me that I was afflicted, that I might learn your statutes.” (Psalm 119:71, ESV)

“So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.” (2 Corinthians 4:16–18, ESV)

This learning and benefitting that comes through any sort of discomfort has become foreign to us. We want to lose weight, but we drink weight loss shakes that taste like milkshakes. We want to learn a new skill and we sign up for a program that doesn’t require too much thinking. “Learn Spanish in one week, guaranteed. It’s easy and fun — you won’t even realize that you are learning.”

Knowing that learning requires difficulty is almost lost on us. We think that something is wrong if it is hard. But the Bible speaks of God loving us by refining us. He burns away the dross that we may know him more.

Listen to how Paul states this in Philippians 3: “But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ” (Philippians 3:7–8, ESV)

God is the goal. And our contentment is knowing that he is working for our ultimate good. As Tim Keller used to put it “If you knew what God knows, you would wish for yourself the very things that you currently have.”

Last week we said that we are to receive Christ. But this doesn’t work unless we know who he is and what he is doing. He isn’t an abstract concept — we must receive Him. Our contentment comes from trust in Him.

My Needs; His Fullness

“Friendship? What a friend we have in Jesus, one who never abandons or forsakes (Deuteronomy 31:6; Matthew 28:20). Family? We have an older brother who leads the way (Hebrews 2:11) and unites us to a Father, who ever loves us (Galatians 4:4-7). Justice? He is a Judge who forever upholds righteousness (2 Timothy 4:8). Comfort? We have a priest who forever intercedes (Hebrews 7:25). Wisdom? We have a prophet who always proclaims (Hebrews 3:3), a counselor who is ever ready with comfort (Matthew 11:28-30), a provider who ever supplies (Philippians 4:19), a Savior who pays the price for our sins (Hebrews 10:12), a defender who will guard and keep us (Psalm 23).” [Jason Helopolous]

We must love the work of his hands

Circumstances expose what you are - if you are greedy and you gain more-it’s not going to satisfy you, it’s going to make that sin grow and become even more difficult

And so we hold our circumstances with open hands.

God can take what you hold on to easily, or he can break your fingers

Doing all things through Christ does not mean jumping off a cliff in an attempt to fly while saying, “I can do all things throughhhhhhhhh

***It means that you can do all things through Christ who strengthens you. You can be single. You can be in the job that you are in. You can be wealthy. You can live in the house that you are in. You can face cancer. You can parent toddlers. You can have many friends, few friends, or no friends. You can pray that your circumstances change, but you can weather what they are now. You are r

That’s the secret of contentment. He is not doing what he is doing to you to punish you, but he is working for you and for your good.

Contentment is a deep satisfaction in the will of God for your life.

†PSALM OF RESPONSE #131B

“Not Haughty Is My Heart”

THE MINISTRY OF THE LORD’S SUPPER

Minister: Lift up your hearts!

Congregation: We lift them up to the Lord.

Minister: Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.

Congregation: It is right for us to give thanks and praise!

CONFESSION OF FAITH

The Nicene Creed p. 852

INVITATION TO THE LORD’S TABLE

This table is for those who belong to Christ through repentance, faith, baptism, and continuing union with his Church. You who do truly and earnestly repent of your sins, and are in love and charity with your neighbors, and intend to lead a new life, following the commandments of God and walking in his holy ways: draw near with faith, and take this holy sacrament to your comfort; and make your humble confession to almighty God.

PRAYER

Minister: Let’s pray together.

Congregation: We do not presume to come to this thy holy table, O merciful Lord, trusting in our own righteousness, but in thy great mercies. We are not worthy so much as to gather up the crumbs under thy table: but you are the Lord, who is always able to have mercy.

Grant us therefore, by thy grace, so to eat the flesh of thy dear son Jesus Christ, and to drink his blood, that our sinful bodies may be made clean by his most sacred Body, and our souls washed through his most precious blood, and that we may evermore dwell in him, and he in us. Amen.

You may be seated

DISTRIBUTION OF THE ELEMENTS

THE WORDS OF INSTITUTION 1 Corinthians 11:23-26

For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.

SHARING OF THE LORD’S SUPPER

†OUR RESPONSE #234

Tune: The God of Abraham Praise

The whole triumphant host gives thanks to God on high;

“Hail, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost!” they ever cry.

Hail, Abraham’s God and mine! I join the heav’nly lays;

all might and majesty are thine, and endless praise.

†BENEDICTION: GOD’S BLESSING FOR HIS PEOPLE

“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.” (Romans 15:13, ESV) (4/28/24)