Part 3 Unusual Contentment

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***reboot plug.

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.

My Best life part 3: “unusual contentment”

Weve been on a journey of discovery: what is my best life.

MY BEST LIF EXISTS ON THE OTHER SIDE OF MY TOTAL SURRENDER & MT RADICAL OBEDIENCE.

Total surrender

Radical obedience

& today… from Pauls letter to the church in Phillipi: Contentment.

but not just any contentment. Not a standard contentment, not a regular kind of thing

but rather an UNUSUAL CONTENTMENT

Something thats out of this world.

something that isnt from here

Hebrews 13:5–6 ESV

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.” So we can confidently say, “The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me?”

So why is paul saying this and what insights can we learn from these verses today?

1.Contentment is LEARNED (Not earned)

Gods will.....seeking it is possible… that he will give you the desires of your heart:

That you can have whats the best…. But it comes with a condition that you accept and find joy in that it is God who knows whats best and not you or i.

Philippians 4:12 “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.”

this life. is the best life, Paul says

**the setting is paul wriing to the phillipians. But hes not writing from his highrise luxury apartment in New York city or LA. Its from ROME. and not just anywhere in rome, its a prison cell.

a tough place - in a tough season

hes writing to a church that he loved very much about 10 to 12 years after he planted that church he writes and response to them as they send a gift of concern and love to him

And I really think that what Paul’s doing here is he’s reflecting on his present situation his previous situation… And his eternal situation

You see something happened when he got to Philippi that probably is part of all this. He was probably thinking of the way that he went to Phillip High with nothing but a dream.

But then God moved and brought things into place mainly through a person.. often the way God works sometimes he doesn’t just check. He sends a person. This person was Lydia….

Acts 16:10–15 ESV

And when Paul had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go on into Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them. So, setting sail from Troas, we made a direct voyage to Samothrace, and the following day to Neapolis, and from there to Philippi, which is a leading city of the district of Macedonia and a Roman colony. We remained in this city some days. And on the Sabbath day we went outside the gate to the riverside, where we supposed there was a place of prayer, and we sat down and spoke to the women who had come together. One who heard us was a woman named Lydia, from the city of Thyatira, a seller of purple goods, who was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what was said by Paul. And after she was baptized, and her household as well, she urged us, saying, “If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come to my house and stay.” And she prevailed upon us.

You see this is an example of learned experience

Contentment copy be paid for contentment cannot be ascertained any other way than to live it

It comes through lifes ups and downs.

“i know what its like to be BROUGHT LOW”

2 Corinthians 12:7–10 ESV

So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited. Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 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.

It’s quite a revelation… someone could be content in a a period of hardships or struggle or calamity or persecution

I mean, I don’t know if you’ve ever been persecuted in your life, but I would find that quite challenging to be content in the midst of it all

2.Contentment is a gift that keeps giving

Or a blessing that doesn’t stop….

Count it all as loss if you arent content with it

write this down: “Biblical contentment puts to death the sin of worldy comparison”

1 Timothy 6:6–10 ESV

But godliness with contentment is great gain, for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world. But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content. But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs.

because we thinking that we need more to be happy… But rather taking example where we’re in seat 5 or seat one the question is this does it really ?

Now I know it’s different but the question really is doesn’t really matter to me. Is my happiness contingent on this being present in my life and if it’s absent, do things change for me?

My story is one. I’m still learning all this. I was very different 20 years ago my idea of happiness and security was found in not in a person, but in the presence of material wealth. I thought incorrectly that those things would be the things that me feel content, fulfilled,

But I’m glad because God is removed that curse from my life… Because all contentment is always grounded in the gift of grace revealed through Jesus so without Jesus in our lives, we will never be content

It was Augustine that said we will always be restless until our hearts rest in knowing Jesus

Let me ask you a question do you have the gift of godly contentment in your life? Why not ask the Holy Spirit to begin to deliver this gift in you?

Set a gift is initially for you, but then that gift begins to be distributed from you.

its a gift to you…. but its also a gift to OTHERS around you.

know someone in your life that has true biblical and grounding in the ?

Less may mean i am called simply to be grateful and to be content with what i have… thats what hebrews says.

But here is the GIFT: contentment breeds a generous life: “the more i have the more i can share, the more i can help, the more Glory the Lord gets”

So maybe the question today is can we be content but could we also pray that our contentment could bless other?

3.True Contentment is only found in Jesus.

Why? Bc it’s grounded and rests in the finished work and the power and person of Jesus.

Because it’s only in of Christ that we can declare what the writer of Hebrew says, and what was declared in the Old Testament that we now see fulfilled

That no matter what comes no matter what good bad or somewhere in the middle Jesus is where my found, and my purpose is given

Habakkuk 3:17–19 ESV

Though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, the produce of the olive fail and the fields yield no food, the flock be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord; I will take joy in the God of my salvation. God, the Lord, is my strength; he makes my feet like the deer’s; he makes me tread on my high places. To the choirmaster: with stringed instruments.