The Contentment Conundrum | Hebrews 13:5

Opening Remarks: Taking a couple of weeks out of John

Have felt led to revisit some truths that I dealt with probably 5 years ago around this time of year

As happy as this time of year is supposed to be, there is so much unrest around us

Not just in the world, but in people’s lives

Unhappiness, anxiety, fear, anger - it’s everywhere

And I think a lot of it can be traced back to discontentment. We have unmet expectations and they become our focus.

And you think, “It can’t be that simple,” but one of the Ten Commandments is about covetousness. And those reflect matters the most to God. And as we saw last week, covetousness is the desire to attain what you don’t already have. It’s a never-ending pursuit, because there will always be things we don’t have. No one has everything.

But desiring what you don’t have was at the root of original sin.

Satan was cast out of Heaven because he wasn’t God but wanted to be God.

Eve sinned because she was shown fruit that she didn’t have and disobeyed God to get it.

Covetousness is ruining the lives of many people. They’re so focused on what they don’t have that they fail to recognize what they do have.

The writer of Hebrews, which I believe to be Paul, is giving a closing epilogue to the letter by giving some general life instructions. And one of the instructions he gives is in verse 5. Let’s read it.

Hebrews 13:5 “Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.”

TITLE: The Contentment Conundrum

A conundrum is a difficult problem. Choosing to be content is hard. But it’s possible. We’re going to see how this morning.

PRAY

Introduction: I was watching an interview this week of a young man who’s become very wealth on YouTube. His name is Ryan Trahan and he was giving an interview about his salvation testimony.

He talks about how he was cynical atheist earlier in his life, but after meeting his wife and making a fortune, he noticed that his life was still empty.

He was amassing more wealth than he ever thought he could, and he says he’d received all he thought he ever wanted.

He talks about how one day he was reflecting on his life and just started weeping because all of his identity was about his success.

He said his thought was, “I got everything I ever wanted. So why do I feel empty?”

That seems to be the testimony of so many people who pursue what they think will make them happy, only to find out they need something more.

I remember reading something Kevin Durant said a few years ago. Durant is of the greatest basketball players of all time.

But after 7 years in the NBA, he hadn’t won a championship. He was quoted as saying, about a championship, “It would mean the world. It’s the only thing I’m worried about at this point. I’ll lay my body on the line for these fans here and my teammates and this whole organization to win a championship. That’s my goal. I’m going to keep fighting until I get it.”

After leaving the team that drafted him, he signed with another team that had just won the championship. And it worked. They won again. Durant fulfilled his dream.

You’d think that changed everything, but one of his mentors said after that first championship, Kevin…“didn’t have a great summer. He was searching for what it all meant. He thought a championship would change everything and found out it doesn’t. He was not fulfilled."

Kevin Durant said, “After winning that championship, I learned that much hadn’t changed. I thought it would fill a certain void. It didn’t."

Someone once said: “The emptiness of sports is most felt in victory.” Meaning, once you finally get what you’ve lived for, you realize it doesn’t fundamentally change anything.

That’s true across the board, because physical things can’t fill spiritual voids.

But we try to make it work over and over.

Last week we saw how contentment is only found in Jesus Christ. Paul wrote in Philippians 4:11, “Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.”

In the same passage he wrote, “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.” Everything Paul needed was contained in Jesus Christ.

If we have Jesus, we have everything we need to be content.

God wants us to be content. But so many people are not because they think contentment comes from other sources.

But I believe our text this morning gives us some perspective on genuine contentment.

Hebrews 13:5 contains two competing mindsets: Covetousness and Contentment. And according to this verse you are either one or the other.

That’s the conundrum. We must choose between contentment and covetousness.

Let’s define some terms:

Conversation: We think it means dialogue, but the Greek word for conversation actually means your lifestyle. The way you live.

So Paul is saying, “As a Christian, your way of living should never be about covetousness.”

Covetousness is a spirit that causes us to always look to get more. The Bible definition of covetous is An excessive desire to have more than what God has seen fit to give us.

And it’s such a problem for us that God listed it as one of the Ten Commandments. Exodus 20:17, “Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour's.”

And before we think, “Oh that’s just an add-on commandment. The big-ticket sins like murder, stealing, lying and adultery - those are the ones to be careful of.” But think about how many of them are connected to covetousness. To covet is often the root of those other sins.

“Thou shalt not covet” is the only commandment that is about an attitude and not just an action. It’s more than “Do” or “Don’t.” It is a spirit, an attitude, a way of thinking that affects everything else.

It caused Lucifer’s downfall

It caused Eve to sin

It caused Cain to kill his brother Abel

It caused David to lust after Bathsheba

It was Judas’ issue - wanting money

Covetousness is a big deal to God. That excessive desire to have what God has not seen fit to give us.

If you are constantly seeking for more than what God has seen fit to give you, then you are essentially engaging in idolatry.

You have said, in your heart, “God, you are not enough for me. I need something more.” That is the core mindset behind idolatry.

Covetousness is a big deal to God. So how do we prevent this?

Well, Hebrews 13:5 provides help.

Here it is. Ready? Here’s the solution. Be content with what you have.

Mind-blown, right? That’s the simple solution. We have to get to the place, internally, that we’re able to say, “I will be content with what God has seen fit to give me.”

We have a tendency to focus more on the things we want than the things we already have. We’re like the livestock in the pasture full of good grass but we have our necks stretched out through the barb-wire fence trying to get a blade of grass just beyond our reach. We fail to value what we’re already holding in our hands because we think having something else will bring us the contentment we’re searching for.

Like YouTube money or an NBA championship.

If we constantly attempt to be fulfilled in that which we don’t have, we will never be content. Because we will always be reaching for what we don’t have. Even if we catch what we’re chasing, there will always be more that we don’t have.

We live like we’re playing Whack A Mole. We’re constantly chasing the next thing that pops up and we can’t ever seem to catch it.

So the point of our text is, You will find in God all you need to be content.

We won’t be content until we rest in what God has already provided.

Three simple truths about contentment that will help us overcome covetousness:

I. Contentment is SUPERNATURAL

The way the verse lays out logically like this:

1. Don’t covet the things around you.

2. Be content with what you have.

3. What you have is a God that will never leave or forsake you.

So contentment can be found in God. Not things. Not possessions. Not power. God.

Why? Because God is eternal. He is reliable. Those other things are temporary. But not God.

God says, “I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.”

God is faithful. He doesn’t change. As our Father He has taken it upon Himself to always be present and always provide for us.

There are times when our sin will create distance, but that is never God’s choice.

Once you’re His, He’s committed to you.

And I love the contrast in this verse.

The verse is saying, “What you want is temporary, but you already have something that is permanent. The presence of a personal God.”

Think about the things we chase: Money, influence, popularity, vacations, more material possessions. But everything we leave God to chase is temporary. Even if we get it, it will be someday disappear.

But we have a Father who’s eternal and immutable.

And the verse is saying, “Why chase temporary things when you already have an eternal God who will always be there?”

So we have a choice. Go after those temporary things that can’t make us content, or find your satisfaction in a Father who will never leave us or forsake for all of eternity.

By the way, you many not know Jesus Christ this morning. So you don’t have a relationship with God. But you can. He offers salvation to everyone. And once you accept it, you have God’s presence and faithfulness forever.

But for those that know Jesus Christ, why chase temporary things to satisfy you when you have a faithful God who will never leave or forsake you?

That is true contentment.

Content is supernatural…

II. Contentment is INTERNAL

It says, “Be content with such things as ye have.”

The key word is “Be.”

This is not something we do. This is who we are.

Contentment is not an action. It is an attitude in which God changes us from the inside out. Contentment is a deep seated rest in your heart that Christ is all you need.

You are either content or covetous. As you experience internal contentment that can only come from God, you become less covetous.

As contentment rises, coveting lowers and vice versa.

Which one weighs the most right now in your life?

Are you more focused on what you have or what you don’t have right now?

Remember, this comes from an internal place.

You can only be content as you allow God’s Spirit to transform your life from the inside out.

2 Cor. 5:17 – “Therefore if any man be in Christ…”

As a new creature with a new nature, you have the option to be content.

You will never experience true contentment until you are saved. You could live your entire life with a God shaped hole that nothing else can satisfy.

Contentment is only possible through God doing a work in your heart.

But if you have been transformed, you can choose to be content.

It starts with the heart and is revealed in our actions.

Contentment is internal. It’s not an action. It’s an attitude of the heart.

III. Contentment is HABITUAL

What habit does it begin with?

The verse says, “Be content with such things as ye have.”

The most important step in becoming content and putting an end to covetousness is gratitude.

It says, “Be content with such things as ye have.” That implies a deliberate choice to take inventory.

To stop and look at what you have and say, “Father, thank you.”

Thank you for salvation.

Thank you for my family.

Thank you for the roof.

Thank you for this food.

Thank you for my church family.

Thank you for this Bible.

Thank you letting me wake up this morning.

We could spend all day on that list. In my experience, the unhappiest people I know haven’t taken inventory in a long time.

You want to be content? Spend time in listing out and thanking God for what you already have and less time thinking about and chasing the things you don’t have.

The number #1 coveting killer is gratitude.

Every day, take inventory and tell God “Thank you” for what you already have.

Stop looking over the fence. Or across the street. Or online. Look at what you have.

Hold tightly the things God has blessed you with and trust that it is His plan for you to be content with the things He’s already given you.

QUOTES:

Thomas Watson wrote, “There is no better antidote against coveting that which is another’s than BEING CONTENT with that which is our own.”

Matthew Henry said, “He is much happier that is always CONTENT, though he has ever so little, than he that is always coveting, though he has ever so much.”

Fanny Crosby, the great blind songwriter, wrote these words as an eight year old: “O what a happy soul am I! Although I cannot see, I am resolved that in this world Contented I will be; How many blessings I enjoy That other people don’t! To weep and sigh because I’m blind, I cannot, and I won’t.”

One man (Gothard) said, “CONTENTMENT is realizing that God has already given me everything I need for my present happiness.”

Spurgeon said “If you are not CONTENT with what you have, you would not be satisfied if it were doubled!”

There is a conundrum between coveting and covetousness.

But there’s also a solution. You must choose to be content with what you have.

It’s Eternal - If you have Jesus, you can be content

It’s Internal - If you have Jesus, He can transform your attitude about what you have

It’s Habitual - A habit becomes a habit by choice

The solution to the contentment conundrum is to be grateful for what you have in Christ.

I go back to the quote from the beginning, “The emptiness of sports is most felt in victory.”

The emptiness of a new relationship is most felt when you get it only to realize a person can’t fulfill your deepest void.

Teenagers, the emptiness of doing your own thing instead of being burdened by your parents’ rules is most felt once you get your freedom only to realize that sin has consequences.

The emptiness of chasing sin comes when you indulge only to realize it leaves you wanting more.

The emptiness of religion is most felt when you go through the motions but don’t have an actual relationship.

You fill in the blanks:

The emptiness of ____________ (what you’re chasing) will be most felt when you finally catch it and realize it can’t fill the void that only Jesus Christ can.

Be content with such things as ye have.

If you’re a Christian: You have eternal life

You have a Father who will never leave or forsake you

You have God’s Word and the HS to guide you

If you have a church family:

A place to hear truth and grow as a Christian

Friends who will support you

For some, this is more family than your real family

If you have a family:

Godly parents

A loving spouse

Healthy children

So much to be thankful for. It’s time to stop focusing on what we don’t have and be thankful for the things that last.

Ryan Trahan found Jesus and developed a relationship with God.

He said, “Now, my relationship with God is my source of joy. It is my source of everything.”

He’s a young man who had everything by the world’s standards, and it wasn’t enough. But once he found Christ he realized that Jesus is everything.

If you want to be content, remember:

The solution to the contentment conundrum is to be grateful for what you have in Christ.

The more we become content with what we have, the less we will covet all the things we don’t.