Finding Contentment In Life
Phil. 4:10-13
Brother Pastor I’ve never been so amazed and aware of the people who sit in our pews Sunday after Sunday who live never satisfied. They are not satisfied with their life, they are not satisfied with their lives, and they are not satisfied with their livelihood. So discontented with their lot in life. Constantly searching for bigger and better and brighter. And I guess all of us who are here today have that inward urge to do better and to do more than what we are doing. But the dangerous disease of discontentment is destroying our people not only individually but also collectively.
Never satisfied. Not satisfied with the house. Not satisfied with the car. Not satisfied with the job. Not satisfied with the church. The choir either sings too long, too loud, or both. The preacher, if don’t whoop “he’s dry” and if he does whoop “it don’t take all that!” We’re not satisfied with our weight. We are not satisfied with our complexion. We are not satisfied with our hair; we are coloring, cutting, and cropping. (I wish I had some help in here.) We are not satisfied with our bodies. We are not satisfied with the furniture we have in our homes. We are not even satisfied with the food that we have in our iceboxes. We are not satisfied with the climate, either it’s too hot Rev. or it’s too cold.
Have you ever noticed that discontented people are often disgruntled people? They are often discouraging people. They feel that somehow or another if they could just change their environment that they are living in. If they could just win the big one at the lottery… Maybe get rich overnight with some get rich quick scheme, maybe become a part of the rich and the famous that somehow they can move from a state of discontentment to a state contentment.
We are restless beings. As a matter of fact, our children are restless but may I suggest that they did not just come upon it… We have restless adults. Trying often maybe (my brothas and sistahs) to keep up with the Jones’ before we know where the Jones’ are going. Discontented! Living with that damnable disease of our children “I want” and “everybody got” that causes people to be stressed out and straining. I have a nephew who listens to the Canton spiritual, “I’ve Been Strugglin’ and Straining.” He said to me one day after getting in trouble, Uncle, I have been struggling and straining. I said yeah nephew, me too. Trying to make ends meet, I have been struggling and straining. Trying make my income keep up with my “outgo”, yes, I have been struggling and straining too. We are just not content. And I do sense in each one of us the desire to live a peaceful and productive life but how can we capture contentment when we are living around so many folks who are discontented. And you have to watch hanging around them, they’ll stop you from counting your blessings and get you to bemoaning your burdens. You ever run into folks that seem to get mad because you are cheerful. They ask you, “why are you so happy?” Well, I’m alive. And isn’t that something to be happy about just being alive? Oh, I may not live where I want to but I’m alive. I might not have all that I want to have but yes I’m alive. Pains might be racking my body but I’m alive. Children might be acting up but yes thank God, I’m alive. I might not be able to pay all my bills but thank God next week I can tell them, “I can’t pay you!” I’m yet alive. And every time I start complaining about my lot in life I remind myself of one of God’s promises – “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” And maybe we need to remind ourselves of that when we are going through our problems and predicament so that we can come out victors instead of victims.
So in Phil. 4:11 he says, “I can accept all things. It is in 4:13 he says, I can do all things. And then in 4:18 he says, “I have all things.” Paul says, I don’t have to be pampered because I have learned that it is not where I am that makes the difference. And there are a lot of people this morning who feel it’s where you are that makes the difference. It’s really not where you are but it’s who you are that makes the difference. When one reads a book written by Charles Swindoll, he talks about discontentment. He says:
It was spring but it was summer I wanted. The warm days and the great outdoors it was summer but it was fall I wanted. The colorful leaves and the cool dry air, it was fall but it was winter I wanted. The beautiful snow and the joy of the holiday season, it was winter but it was spring I wanted. The warmth and the blossoming of nature; I was a child but it was adulthood that I wanted. The freedom and the respect, I was twenty but it was thirty I wanted. To be mature and sophisticated, I was middle age but it was twenty I wanted. The youth and the free spirit, I was retired but it was middle age that I wanted. The presence of mind without limitations, my life was over and I never got what I wanted.
And I have met a lot of folks like that. Paul say in verse eight, “finally.” It is the “I am closing now” of the baptist preacher. He’s already said finally in chapter three, but that’s like most baptist preachers. You know you ain’t earned your stripes until you’ve said finally at least three times. But really this is the finally of the finally, he says “finally” or “as I come to a conclusion bretheren there are some things that I want you to understand about what it is to be content and how you can be content.” He says first of all “your mind has to be on the right stuff.” Six thing that he says that if you are going to be content you have got to think about the right stuff. First of all he says that if you are going to be content you have got to think about things that are true; think about things that are honest; think about things that are just; think about things that are pure; think about things that are lovely; and then think about things that are of a good report for as a man thinketh so is he. It does make a difference what we think. Many of is this morning think that we are worse off than we really are. When you are living in any kind of a situation, satan will make you think that it is worse. He’ll paint a skewed picture of what is really happening. And you’ll find yourself thinking about many times it is worse than it really is. And that it why the writer said that you have got to get your mind together let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, it really ain’t that bad. You see anything can be worked out as long as you are alive. That why many people who jump off of buildings don’t give God a chance to work it out for them. Many people who contemplate suicide (taking their life) if they will just wait until the next day maybe there’s a letter in the mail saying it’s gonna be alright and it just got stopped at the post office (help me somebody). When people are out looking for jobs and you have heard all the “no’s” that you can take for one day and the devil tells you to go home knock on at least one more door. He’ll tell you to quit before you get what you want. He said to think about your state, but not only think about your state move from thinking to doing. It is verse nine he says after you have thought about all these things (things that are true, honest, just, pure, lovely, of a good report) then you have got to realize that those things that you have both learned and received then you have got to learn to do. Our problem is a performance problem not a principle problem. For most of us know the principles but the performance is another thing. James said that not only should we be hearers of the Word but doers likewise. Paul said that the things that you have learned, received, heard, and seen in me; I have set an example for you of how to live under pressure, how to make it in your pains, how to move through your perils. I have set an example for you. I am a witness that you can make it regardless of what you are going through. How do you know it Paul? Because I’ve already experienced it. I’ve been hungry. I’ve been shipwrecked. I’ve been beaten. Perils on the water. Perils at sea. Perils from my friends. Perils by my countrymen. I have already experienced what it means to be out there all by myself. Paul says in turbulent trials and tragic times, you can make it.
In verse ten he seems to have a station ID break. Because he didn’t want them to think that just because they sent him a little money, that was why he was content. He was in prison and Aphroditius had brought him a love token from the church at Phillipi (maybe to help him out) and he’s happy about it, but he wants them to understand that it had nothing to do with external stuff but it had a whole lot to do with what was on the inside. He says in essence “it is not this money that you sent me…” “Not that I speak in respect or because of want. I have learned in whatsoever state I am in therewith to be content.” Alec Moyer suggested that the word “content” means moving from one degree to another. In essence Pauls says “I ain’t always been like this.” He says “through some perils in life, through some pains in life, through some predicaments in life, through some problems in life, through some fears in life, through some frustrations, through some failures in life, through some trials in life, through some tribulations in life, through some tears in life, some ups and some downs, some right and some wrong, through being pressed on one side and the other side… I have moved from one degree to another, I am a long way from where I used to be. I have learned how to be content in every situation, anywhere, and at any time God gives me strength. So many people think “if I could just relocate.” Man came to Socrates one day and said to Socrates (asking him about the unhappiness of another friend). He said well the trouble with that man is he takes himself everywhere he goes. And so Paul says that contentment is not a place but and attitude. And he wants you and me to know that we do not have contentment because we have not learned how to change our attitude. Now there are some things this morning you just can’t change. Some people you just can’t change. As a matter of fact, there are some place that you are right now that you just can’t change. And so if you can’t change the place, if you can change the purpose, if you can’t change the person then you have got to change yourself. You see, don’t isolate yourself insolate yourself. You have got to learn how to maybe even sometimes stay right where you are and let God not fix everybody else… There are sometimes that you got to tell God “fix me!” (Y’all gone make me feel alright) Have you ever been in that situation where you had to cry out, “Lord, it ain’t my mama, it ain’t my daddy, it ain’t my sister, it ain’t my brother, it’s me oh Lord, I am the one standing in the need of prayer. He says I (for my part) whatever others may feel I have come to learn in the classroom of life, I did not learn it over night… But through practical long hard experiences I have learned to take some stuff. And maybe there is someone here today, don’t bemoan your past, don’t bemoan what happened to you yesterday, you became a little stronger from what all you’ve gone through. Yeah, you have had some ups and some downs but you’ll be all right as a matter of fact you’ve come out a little stronger. Every weight you bear you can lift up a little more weight and when you keep on lifting weight you lift up a little more and they put a little more on you and you lift up a little more and problem on one hand and trials on the other hand but when you keep on lifting them up after a while you get a little stronger. Thank God for problems. Problems ain’t that bad they keep me on my knees. They keep me talking to God. Yeah they keep me with my line open to heaven’s throne room. I keep on lifting my burdens and lifting my weight, I keep on lifting up my troubles, my trials, and tragedies and I get a little stronger and that stuff that used to bother me five years ago it don’t bother me now. I am a little stronger than I used to be and that little mess that happens in my life now it doesn’t confuse me like it used to do me. I got some deaths behind me, my daddy died. I can handle death a little bit better. I have been in a position where I couldn’t pay my bills in the past and so when a bill comes through now it doesn’t throw me off course. I had a little illness in my life so I can handle sickness. I have been broke before so now broke don’t bother me like it would have five years ago! Anybody feel like I feel? Whatsoever state I’m in, I’ve learned how to be content. Rev. whatever state? Yes! Whatever state. Everything ain’t good but thank God everything ain’t bad. Everything ain’t bad but thank God everything ain’t good. Everyday is not an up day, I have had some down days but my down days help me appreciate my up days. I have learned how to appreciate sunshine just a little bit better because every now and then I have to get my umbrella out. Paul says whatsoever the situation I have learned how to be content. Pray along with the prayer of serenity “Lord grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage change the thing I can, and wisdom to know the difference.” My daily affirmation over the last few weeks has been “God is in control, I am God’s child, and I cannot change how people feel about me.” Every morning when I get up I say, “God is in control, I am God’s child, and I cannot change how people feel about me.” In the evening time I say the same thing, “God is in control, I am God’s child, and I cannot change how people feel about me.” When I went to bed last night and every night I say “God is in control, I am God’s child, and I cannot change how people feel about me.” In essence I am learning how myself to be content, in every situation. Sometimes I have to tell the Lord, “Lord this isn’t my choice. Lord, this isn’t my desire but you are in control.” I’ve learned how to accept the Lord’s way, the Lord’s timing, and the Lord’s outcome. God still speaks in the midst of all of our trouble and He says you can trust in Me. I will bring you out every time. And I come away saying like Job, though he slay me, yet I’m gonna stick it out with him. I’m gonna trust in the Lord. Well, why you gonna trust in Him? Well, I know that my Redeemer liveth and I shall see Him for myself. I’m gonna wait until my change comes. And I don’t know how you feel about it but I am gonna wait on the Lord. I’m learning how to wait on the Lord because I know that God is in control of whatever state I find myself in. And with God I can make it and I can hang on in there. I hear Him say hold on just a little while longer. I know you are lonely but I will come through for you if you will hold on just a little while longer. I know your health is failing but if you hold on just a little while longer help is on the way. I know you’re facing some injustice but if you will hold on just a little while longer, God is gonna come through for you. And that’s why Paul say, “I can do all things through Christ that strengthens me.” You know I couldn’t do it with my own strength but I got God on my side. And every now and then my body don’t feel like it but I get my soul into praising business. When peace like a river attendeth my way, when sorrow sea billows roll; whatever my lot in life thou hast taught me to say it is well with my soul. And I don’t know how you feel about but it is well with my soul. Sometimes not with my body for my body is racking with pain. …not with my mind for my mind is disturbed. ...not with my emotions for I am emotionally drained. But no matter how my body feels it is still well with my soul. And that’s why the writer said “bless the Lord O my soul and all that is within me. Bless His holy name. Bless His holy name. Bless the Lord O my soul and forget not all His benefits. He forgives all of your iniquities and He heals all your diseases. He redeems your life from destruction and crowns you with lovingkindness and tender mercies. He’ll satisfy your mouth with good things and when you get old He’ll put strength in your limbs. It’ll be renewed like an eagle. Wait I say on the Lord!
