Lessons in Contentment (Philippians 4:10 - 16)

Introduction

Philippians 4:10 - 20 is an interesting passage. What makes it so strange is the length of it. Paul spends 10 verses saying thank you to this Church in Philippi. Paul could have said to Ephaphroditus, please send my regards and my thanks to the Church in Philippi for their gift. I am grateful. Would that not have sufficed? In todays world we would simply send an emoji , that praying hands emoji in Whatsapp - thank you.

Paul does not choose this route, however. Instead he writes a letter that John piper calls a “an exultant manifesto on the sovereignty of God, Christian humility, and treasuring Christ above all else”.

Like the rest of the letter, Paul uses this opportunity to not just say thank you, but to teach the Philippian believers about contentment and what that looks like in the Christian life.

Dr. Martin Lloyd-Jones “We have, in the words of Philippians4:10 - 12, one of those portions of scripture which always makes me feel that there is a sense in which the only right and proper thing to do after reading them in a church service is to pronounce the benediction! One trembles at the very approach to such exalted words, recalling as they do one of the highwater marks in the Christian experience of this mighty Apostle to the Gentiles” (The Life of Peace, 1990).

Paul is encarcerated in Rome. The Philippian Church has sent a gift to Paul by the hands of Epaphroditus (see Phil 4:18). Paul is writing this letter back to the Philippian church to express his gratitude to them for the gift that he has received. What the gift is, we do not know. It seems that from Phil 2:25 - 30 that a part of the gift was Epaphroditus himself, who while in the service of Paul is ill and nearly dies. Paul sends this letter back to the Philippians by the same hands that brought his gift to encourage them.

Philippians 4:10–20 ESV

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. Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned, in whatever situation I am, to be content. 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. I can do all things through him who strengthens me. Yet it was kind of you to share my trouble. And you Philippians yourselves know that in the beginning of the gospel, when I left Macedonia, no church entered into partnership with me in giving and receiving, except you only. Even in Thessalonica you sent me help for my needs once and again. Not that I seek the gift, but I seek the fruit that increases to your credit. I have received full payment, and more. I am well supplied, having received from Epaphroditus the gifts you sent, a fragrant offering, a sacrifice acceptable and pleasing to God. And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus. To our God and Father be glory forever and ever. Amen.

Interrupted by Grace

A) Paul’s history with the Church in Philippi

It seems like the gift that Paul was given by the Church in Philippi caught Paul by surprise. Paul had been supported by the Philippians before, but the last time that they gave him support was likley 10 years prior to the writing of the letter to the Philippians. I think that it is fair to say that at that point Paul needed their help.

He receives their help in Thessalonica on two occassions (Phil 4:16).

He receives their help in Corinth - this allows him to focus on missions and take a break from tent making.

2 Corinthians 11:8–9 “I robbed other churches by accepting support from them in order to serve you. And when I was with you and was in need, I did not burden anyone, for the brothers who came from Macedonia supplied my need. So I refrained and will refrain from burdening you in any way.”

Now he receives their help in Rome - about which this letter is written.

B) Expressing Gratitude without offense

Paul’s trouble was something like this. He was very anxious to thank the chruch at Philippi for their kindness. Butat the same time he was equally anxious, if not more anxious, to show them that he had not been waiting impatiently for, or expecting, this expression of their kindness, and still more that he was in no sense dependent upon their goodness and generosity. In that way he finds himself confronted with a problem. He has to express his tanks to the members of the church at Philippi, and yet he has to do it in a way which will not in any sense detract or derogate from the reality of his experience as a christian man, dependant upon God. That is why it takes him 10 verses. It was the problem of a Christian gentlement, senstive to the feelings of others. And what a great gentelmen this apostle was, how concerned about the feelings of others. As a gentlemen he is anxious to express his profound gratitude and to let them know that their kindness really did move him very deeply, and yet he is concerned, on the other hand, to make it abundantly clear to them that he had not been spending his time wondering why they had not thought of his needs, and suffering because they had not sent him something there in prison. He wanted to make it perfectly clear that that had never been his condition at all, and what we have in these ten verses is the apostles method of resolving that particular problem.

To quote Martin Lloyd-Jones on this matter. He writes, “The Christian gospel dominates the entire Christian life. It controls his thinking vs. 8, it conrols his actions v. 9. And now, in these 10 verses, we see how a Crhistian, even in a matter of returing thanks for a kindness, does so in a way which is different from the way of a person who is not a Christian [...] So here the Apostle, at one and the same time, shows his indebtedness to his friends, but his still greater indebtedness to his Lord. Paul was always jealous for the reputation of the Lord, and he was afraid, in thanking the Philippians for their gift he might somehow give the impression that the Lor was not sufficient for him”.

The Secret of Contentment

A) Defining Contentment

We may be tempted to equate contentment and satisfaction.

Song by the Rolling Stones

I can't get no satisfaction I can't get no satisfaction Gonna try and I try and I try and I try I can't get no - I can't get no -

When I'm driving in my car And the man comes on the radio And he's tellin' me more and more 'Bout some useless information Supposed to fire my imagination

When I'm watchin' my TV And a man comes on to tell me How white my shirts should be But he can't be a man 'cause he doesn't smoke The same cigarettes as me

Scratching an itch, popping bubble wrap etc.

Contentment is more than satisfaction.

Greek word - Autarkes. Means to be self-sufficient. It means to be independant of circumstances or conditions or surroundings, having sufficiency in oneself.

Paul is claiming that he has arrived at a state where he can say that he is independant of his position, his circumstances, his surroundings, and everything that is happening to him.

Philippians 4:11–12 “Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned, in whatever situation I am, to be content. 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.”

Example Acts 16:22–26 “The crowd joined in attacking them, and the magistrates tore the garments off them and gave orders to beat them with rods. And when they had inflicted many blows upon them, they threw them into prison, ordering the jailer to keep them safely. Having received this order, he put them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks. About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them, and suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken. And immediately all the doors were opened, and everyone’s bonds were unfastened.”

B) The Beginnings of Contentment

Universal truths

Contentment begins in discontentment.

There is a deep longing in our hearts for something that nothing can satisfy.

“Don’t you know what that is? It’s spring fever. That is what the name of it is. And when you’ve got it, you want—oh, you don’t quite know what it is you DO want, but it just fairly makes your heart ache, you want it so!”

― Mark Twain, Tom Sawyer, Detective

Kyle sent me a picture from Queenstown New Zealand. Beautiful turquoise lake in the forground and snow capped peaks in the background.

Moving from Johannesburg to Mooi River. The midlands has always had that magnetic pull and attraction etc.

We try and satisfy this longing other things, like shopping. This has become known as retail therapy. In my experience, this has lead to nothing more than buyers remorse.

We try and fill it with relationships. Sex.

We try and fill it with ambition and seek power or fame.

Jim Carrey saying in a commencement address that he wished everyone could become rich and famous so that they could see it’s not the answer.

To that end, the late writer Cynthia Heimel said, “The minute someone becomes a celebrity is the minute they become a monster. They had been once perfectly pleasant human beings, but now they have become supreme beings, and their wrath is awful.” 

But now they have become supreme beings and their wrath is awful. It’s not what they had in mind. When God wants to play a really rotten practical joke on you, he grants you your deepest wish and then giggles merrily when you suddenly realize you want to kill yourself.

The night each of them became famous they wanted to shriek with relief. Finally! Now they were adored! Invincible! Magic!

The morning after the night each of them became famous they wanted to take an overdose of barbiturates.

All their fantasies had been realized, yet the reality was still the same. If they were miserable before, they were twice as miserable now, because that giant thing they were striving for, that fame thing that was going to make everything okay, that was going to make their lives bear­able, that was going to provide them with personal fulfillment and (ha ha) happi­ness, had happened. And nothing changed. They were still them. The disillusionment turned them howling and insufferable”.

Sadly, many celebrities end their lives because of a lack of contentment/a lack of satisfaction.

What is your life lie? What is it that you are building your life on?

Is it your spouse? Is it your career? Is it your bank balance? Is it power? Is it sex or money? None of these pursuits in themselves lead to contentment.

Paul’s experience

Henrik Ibsen once said, "If you take the life lie from an average man, you take away his happiness as well"?

Explanation: people rely on comforting self-deceptions to maintain emotional stability. Stripping away these "life lies" can reveal harsh realities, but it also destroys the fragile illusions that give everyday people a sense of purpose and happiness.

What was Paul’s life lie?

Philippians 3:4–6 “though I myself have reason for confidence in the flesh also. If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless.”

Paul’s pharisaical beleif system, that argued one could be saved by strict observance of the law, was shattered. His Life’s lie came crumbling down when he met Christ and he came realise that the very thing that held his life together was a lie. It was an illusion, it was a misrepresentation of reality.

We read about this in Romans 7: 7 - 10

Romans 7:7–10 ESV

What then shall we say? That the law is sin? By no means! Yet if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin. For I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, “You shall not covet.” But sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of covetousness. For apart from the law, sin lies dead. I was once alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin came alive and I died. The very commandment that promised life proved to be death to me.

Paul concludes in Romans 7:18 “For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh”.

For someone who once believed himself to be perfect according to the law, this is a staggering pronouncement.

The lie that he could be content on his own was shattered when he came face to face with his own covetous desires. Paul was a sinner. I am a sinner. A liar, a theif, an adulterer, a murderer. I will not find contentment by looking inside myself.

Further Paul cries, Romans 7:24 “Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?”

When you come to the end of yourself, you realise that there is only one answer to the issue of contentment.

C) The not so secret, secret

Philippians 4:11–13 “Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned, in whatever situation I am, to be content. 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. I can do all things through him who strengthens me.”

The secret to contentment is Christ. The phrase “through him” that Paul here uses is a reference to the Lord Jesus Christ. It is this intimate connection between the saviour and the sinner that restores the sole and brings peace with God and therefore true contentment.

This idea of contentment is not unique to Paul. This was Christ own experience on earth. Listen to these words from the high priestly prayer in John 17:25–26 “O righteous Father, even though the world does not know you, I know you, and these know that you have sent me. I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.””

Again Paul uses the same word in Philippians 3:8 - 10

Philippians 3:8–10 ESV

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 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death,

John 17:3 “And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.”

What is contentment? Is it not to know Christ?

“I count everything as loss for the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord”. Paul was content in Christ.

Hugh Latimer said to Nicholas Ridley "Be of good comfort, Master Ridley, and play the man; we shall this day light such a candle, by God's grace, in England, as I trust shall never be put out." [1] These two men were to be burned at the stake after being condemned to death for their belief in justification by faith alone, under the reign of the first queen of England, Mary Tudor, or Queen Mary I.

Charles Wesley,

“In age and feebleness extreme, Who shall a helpless worm redeem? Jesus, my only hope Thou art, Strength of my failing flesh and heart: O could I catch one smile from Thee, And drop into eternity!”

In their trial, they display remarkable contentment in the Lord. A similar kind of contentment experienced by the Apostle Paul.

The question this morning, friends. Are you content? Do you know Christ like these men did? My hope is that you, along with the hymn writer (Fanny Crosby, 1873), “Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine, O what a foretaste of glory divine!”

Romans 7:25 “Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!”

2 Corinthians 12:8–10 “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.”

Why should Christians be content?

What is the purpose of your life? What is the motivation for your life?

According to the Westminster shorter chatechism - the chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy him forever.

If you are a Christian and the Lord has saved you, the God will ensure that his son is more precious to you on the day you die than on the day you first believed. Christ must be of primary importance to you. He must surely be your highest thought, have your deepest affections, be the deepest desire of your heart, and be the primary motivator for you in life and death.

Surely Christ must be more beautiful to us than any competing love could ever be? Surely Christ must be more wonderful to us than any sunrise, or sunset. Than any new born child, or bride on her wedding day. Surely Christ must captivate our hearts first and all of the lifes pleasures and struggles, triumphs and trials should be viewed in light of Christ deep and eternal affection for us, and our affections for him. There is contentment no where else.

5 Christ be with me, Christ within me, Christ behind me, Christ before me, Christ beside me, Christ to win me, Christ to comfort and restore me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me, Christ in quiet, Christ in danger, Christ in hearts of all that love me, Christ in mouth of friend and stranger.

Famous celtic hymn - St. Patrick.

When should Christians be content?

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.

Arguably, the most dangerous time for the Christian is in a time of abundance. When all seems well. Even then we need to depend upon Christ.

How then do Christians become content?

Christ must be first in your heart and life. You cannot serve to masters. Either Christ is your Lord and you find your joy and contentment in him, or something else rules your heart, in which case you will never find true contentment.

2. It is learned. Notice how often Paul uses this word in this section. He speaks of his own learning (v. 11 and 12). He commands the Philippians to practise what they have learned (v. 9).

3. Prayer. Presenting our prayers and supplications to the Lord with thankfulness (v. 6). This is a the cure for anxiety. The promise is that the peace of God will guard our hearts.

Contentment on Trial

Misunderstanding contentment.

It is not accepting ones station in life and letting be what will be. A kind of fatalism that has worked its way into some Christian hymns eg.

The rich man in his castle,

the poor man at his gate,

God made them, high or lowly,

and order’d their estate.

CF Alexander - All things bright and beautiful.

Does contentment mean that the Christian must not seek personal improvement? Does it mean that the Christian must have no ambition or drive? No, no and a thousand times no!

I would argue that it is Christian contentment that drives Christians forward. It drives Christians make disciples of the nations. To earn more so that more can be given to the cause of Christ. To gain influence in business or governement, or educational institutions to bring althings under the dominion of Christ. So that the culture doesn’t change us, no Christians change the culture.

Think - Christians ought to aim upwards, strive forwards. To work hard

Practise - speak, teach, train (not talking about mere personal piety). Do not hide your light under a bushel. Let it shine for the glory of God.

Matthew 6:33 “But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”