The Secret to Being Content

because…how many of us long for satisfaction—not just surface level—but deep satisfaction, deep soul level fulfillment, or what our passage calls contentment.

We long for contentment and joy and deep satisfaction—that is part of what it means to be human.

well, in our series in joy--

We have been defining joy as a deep and durable delight in God that once you have tasted it ruins you for anything else.

one aspect of that joy we are looking at today—is contentment, a deep satisfaction and fulfillment that is part of joy.

And for some of us it seems elusive no matter what we try..

yet the Bible actually tells us that true joy, true satisfaction and true contentment is possible.

Look at what Paul says from Philippians 4:10 while he is writing in jail:

Philippians 4:10–23 NIV

10 I rejoiced greatly in the Lord that at last you renewed your concern for me. Indeed, you were concerned, but you had no opportunity to show it. 11 I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. 12 I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. 13 I can do all this through him who gives me strength. 14 Yet it was good of you to share in my troubles. 15 Moreover, as you Philippians know, in the early days of your acquaintance with the gospel, when I set out from Macedonia, not one church shared with me in the matter of giving and receiving, except you only; 16 for even when I was in Thessalonica, you sent me aid more than once when I was in need. 17 Not that I desire your gifts; what I desire is that more be credited to your account. 18 I have received full payment and have more than enough. I am amply supplied, now that I have received from Epaphroditus the gifts you sent. They are a fragrant offering, an acceptable sacrifice, pleasing to God. 19 And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus. 20 To our God and Father be glory for ever and ever. Amen. 21 Greet all God’s people in Christ Jesus. The brothers and sisters who are with me send greetings. 22 All God’s people here send you greetings, especially those who belong to Caesar’s household. 23 The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Amen.

This is amazing!

Paul is in jail.

chained to a Roman guard—possibly the Roman elite guard—kind of like the secret service.

He is awaiting trial before Caesar.

He has been waiting in this condition for at least a couple of years...

His life is at stake—no freedom.

and to make matters worse he has to pay for his time in prison, somehow provide for his needs (while he can’t work)—talk about stress.

and yet Paul says He is content!

What?

How is that possible to have that kind of contentment?

before I answer that--

Contentment—a Definition

· “To be content is to have a peaceful or calm acceptance of where God has providentially placed you.”

As one writer says “Content” was used of a country that had everything it needed and where nothing needed to be imported from the outside...

so if you apply it to Paul’s life—what Paul is saying is that he has everything he needs in life—in God…nothing need to be imported into his life from the outside —except for God.

he has everything he needs in Jesus Christ.

That’s remarkable...

Do you have that in your life? Do you have everything you possibly need—b/c of God?

Now, notice what this is not...

Contentment is not self-sufficiency—no it is God-dependency.

Contentment is not passive acceptance of things in life. “I guess this is the way it is…’ it’s trusting in the sovereignty of God—meaning His kingship and rule—that where He has placed you is where He wants you right now and that motivates you and gives you wisdom when to take risk and when to act.

contentment doesn’t mean you can’t be ambitious. Paul had ambition, goals—he talks about in Romans 15 it is his ambition to preach Christ was Christ was not known—he was a trailblazer, motivated, apostolic…you can be content and be an entrepeneur. you can be content and be driven.

some people talk about a holy discontent—where you are not satisfied with some things, and that’s good because you want to grow, you want change to happen.

Sir Francis Drake, famous explorer gets at this from 1577 with a famous prayer he wrote:

Disturb us, Lord, when We are too well pleased with ourselves, When our dreams have come true Because we have dreamed too little, When we arrived safely Because we sailed too close to the shore.

Disturb us, Lord, when With the abundance of things we possess We have lost our thirst For the waters of life; Having fallen in love with life, We have ceased to dream of eternity And in our efforts to build a new earth, We have allowed our vision Of the new Heaven to dim.

Disturb us, Lord, to dare more boldly, To venture on wider seas Where storms will show your mastery; Where losing sight of land, We shall find the stars.

We ask You to push back The horizons of our hopes; And to push into the future In strength, courage, hope, and love.

Attributed — Sir Francis Drake — 1577

but true contentment is a deep, soul level trust, a calm that God has providentially placed you and given you all you need.

it’s deep satisfaction.

Do you have that—like Paul?

I think contentment is hard for us…especially with living in a prosperous, and blessed nation, especially one that gives you stimulus checks—not I am not here to debate the merits of that—I have opinions just like you do…but we love our possessions.

Think of your life—what do you wish you had in life? What possession? Hmmm?

see if you can fill in this blank “If only I had ____blank (this possession in life)....

and certainly it is not wrong to have possessions…but…it’s so easy to get discontent.

We were talking about this some of us on staff—asking what are some of the possessions we wished we had...

I got permission to share this--

Mike Wilson—travel trailer---story. Mike would love to have a travel trailer, approximately 35 ft in length that he could go and take his family camping. And there’s something awesome about that--

or Ben Amstutz our current creative arts intern would love to have a new truck, but as many of you know—it’s a bad time to buy a truck.

Me—and my wife we would love to get our bathroom in our master bedroom remodeled. we would love for it to be bigger—and currently it only has a shower in the bathroom not a bathtub…we would love a bathtub, and a double sink...

what’s your travel trailer…what’s your bathroom..what’s your truck.

certainly a travel trailer, a truck, or a master bathroom update—those aren’t bad right? no—they are not...

not wrong to have those—

but if I have to have it…in my heart of hearts…you see contentment changes to discontentment when within my heart I have to have it. It becomes an idol. my bathroom starts to look too small.

contentment changes to discontentment when that thing—becomes a soul level, deep identity. That job is not just job. but I have to have it or my career will be a failur.

That money is not just money—but it defines me.

That person whom I am dating—if she breaks up with me—I am lost.

that possession will make or break me.

and certainly in light of what the Afghanistan church is facing—all of these seem so minor, don’t they?

· When discontentment is a problem—we are saying God is not enough—I need more than you God to make me truly happy, truly joyful, truly worth it.

we are telling God you are not enough; you have not given me enough. you are not good enough.

or don’t think about possessions..think about where God has placed you—the job, the home, the people, the city or country, or situation in life.

what do you wish you could change? If only _______ would change, then I would be content; then I would be satisfied. “If I only had the perfect job, the perfect spouse, the perfect kids...”

but the problem is we know—that all of these things we are looking for satisfaction in don’t satisfy...

or if our lot in life would change—job, money, relationships...

it would satisfy us...

you know when you are young—you think that if I just get certain things in life—that will make me happy, content, satisfied, joyful.

but as many of you know that are older—that the things you thought would satisfy you, don’t actually satisfy you.

so some of us are still searching for satisfaction—believing that something out there will if you just find the right possession or circumstance—especially if you are younger you think this.

and if you are older you realize that a lot of things you thought would satisfy you don’t.

in a recent sermon, I heard an article reference by Cynthia Hymel—she was a columnist who wrote about famous people—famous celebrities trying to make it in show business. These were people who moved to NY or LA who began as waitresses, or working at Macy’s—and then they made it as celebrities—she noticed something about all of them...”that giant thing they were striving for; that famed thing that was going to make everything ok, and make them happy and fulfilled—it happened, and nothing changed. The disillusionment turned them howling and insufferable. It made them angry and nasty people. If God wants to play a rotten joke on us, he grants us our deepest wish and then we realize that it doesn’t satisfy and we want to kill ourselves.

Younger people--If you can just grasp this now—the things you think will fulfill you or satisfy you—won’t. I am trying to tell you that---

we are all looking for something or someone to satisfy us…deep in our souls…and we can’t find IT.

IT!

Now according to one preacher (Tim Keller), here’s how most of us try to respond when we are not satisfied.

if you don’t get IT --

here’s how you might response

naive response — showing a lack of experience or judgement or wisdom. “well it still must be out there…I will keep working and searching and I will get IT”

angry or blaming response — you start blaming everyone else or circumstances in your life for why you don’t have IT. You get really angry at someone or something because it is your fault.

driven/frantic response— you start to realize that IT is harder to find so you worker harder, more frantic, more on edge.

despair response

or it doesn’t exist — so I just give up, live in despair.

can you relate to any of these?

serve response—since nothing is satisfying me in this life—I am going to pour my life into people, into serving to truly find satisfaction. but this is dangerous too. It is good to serve people, but if the main motivation is so that I will find myself, that leads to burnout, b/c you realize people don’t always want to change.

live for myself response or Cynic response

since nothing can satisfy I will just live for myself; not worry about others. it’s all about me.

creates pride and self-righteous. cynic. very condescending toward others. very looking down on others. If someone is happy around you—you think “Just wait...”

detach—don’t attach yourself to things too much. It hardens your heart, dehumanizes you. get rid of desire.

all of these responses and there are probably more—are very common—naive, anger, driven/frantic, anxious, despair, service, cynic, and detachment.

Where are you?

how do we have Biblical contentment

#1 First, realize you have to learn Biblical contentment (vs. 11-12)

Philippians 4:11–12 NIV

11 I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. 12 I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.

This was not automatic for Paul—the super apostle who traveled and spread the Gospel and started new churches.

He had to learn it.

and you will notice that part of this learning involves experience, involves suffering.

so for most of us—contentment will only come through some tough life experience and suffering like the Apostle Paul. We would like to think that we can automatically get contentment by knowing it in our brains, but the truth is our contentment has to get tested just like the Apostle Paul.

so if you are going through a hard time or sense one might be coming, this could be an opportunity to learn about contentment.

In fact, that hard time you are going through right now, though I don’t wish it on you—how could God use this season to mold you and shape you to learn some valuable soul lessons?

#2 Second, contentment comes by knowing and being dependent on Jesus Christ (vs. 11-13).

Philippians 4:11–13 NIV

verse 13 gets quoted a lot.

often times at sports— “I can dunk this basketball. I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength.”

“I can tackle this person…through Christ who gives me strength.”

And while that is true—everything we do is through Christ.

in the context...

what Paul is talking about is not having the strength to play sports, or a do a job.

He is talking about contentment..that no matter what situation he finds himself in—prosperity and poverty—I can be content because of Christ.

Having lots or little—I can be content because b/c of Christ.

Freedom or prison—I can be content because of Christ.

no matter what situation he found himself in—he could face it through Christ. his soul was not ultimately disturbed—he had a peaceful calm—knowing that God has got this.

This is the secret…btw.

That word for learning the secret—it’s the only time in the NT it shows up in the original language. according to one Bible teacher--““Secret” (mueo) is a word which means to be initiated in mysteries. In Paul’s day, it referred to the initiation rites into a mystery religion. When someone entered into one of the pagan temples to be a part of those mystery religions, there would be an initiation process in which secrets would be made known to that person. They were not made known to the average person on the streets.”

it was insider knowledge—special knowledge.

Paul is telling us the best insider knowledge—you don’t have to go through an initiate rite or secret ceremony

But, as Hendriksen explains, the only “initiation” necessary to learn this secret is to fear and trust in God:”

Lawson, S. J. (2017). Philippians for You. (C. Laferton, Ed.) (p. 213). The Good Book Company.

to depend on Christ! If you have Christ—If he is your everything—you can get through anything.

Why? because your security in Christ never changes. His love for you is secure—even your worst days and worst things—can be opportunities to experience the depth of Christ’s love even more.

some of favorite verses about Paul are found in

2 Corinthians 1:8–11 NIV

8 We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about the troubles we experienced in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired of life itself. 9 Indeed, we felt we had received the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead. 10 He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us again. On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us, 11 as you help us by your prayers. Then many will give thanks on our behalf for the gracious favor granted us in answer to the prayers of many.

Now you can certainly take this verse out of context—it doesn’t mean I can fly or jump a building. This verse is not an excuse to sin—I can sin through Christ.

It’s only your dependence on Jesus Christ—that enables true soul level satisfaction.

Otherwise—you will be naive, angry, bitter, full of despair, cynical, judgmental…if you don’t.

the final point “how to get contentment”

#3 God provides what you need, often through other people (vs. 14-20)

After Paul says I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me

in verse 14 and following, he talks about:

look at verse 14

Philippians 4:14 NIV

14 Yet it was good of you to share in my troubles.

verse 15 - 16

Philippians 4:15–16 NIV

15 Moreover, as you Philippians know, in the early days of your acquaintance with the gospel, when I set out from Macedonia, not one church shared with me in the matter of giving and receiving, except you only; 16 for even when I was in Thessalonica, you sent me aid more than once when I was in need.

Paul is talking about how after he planted a church in Acts 16—the Philippians sent financial and spiritual aid time and time again, supporting him in his work of the gospel to provide for his needs.

Paul is showing that even though his contentment is in Jesus—the Philippians are examples that God uses people to provide what we need in practical ways and to help us find our contentment in Jesus.

and it’s more than just financial-they are in a partnership—that word is a deep word of community and sharing together.

and it’s so deep that when they give to help Paul, when they participate together — look at what Paul calls their gift

Philippians 4:17 NIV

17 Not that I desire your gifts; what I desire is that more be credited to your account.

their giving to Paul—is actually being accredited to their account spiritually—it’s like they are giving to God. whenever you invest financially in a business—you hope to get financial profits. Paul is using that image spiritually — by their support—they are laying up eternal profit in heaven.

and vs. 18

Philippians 4:18 NIV

18 I have received full payment and have more than enough. I am amply supplied, now that I have received from Epaphroditus the gifts you sent. They are a fragrant offering, an acceptable sacrifice, pleasing to God.

look at last ones...

their giving, and partnership—is an act of worship—it doesn’t just supply Paul’s needs—but it glorifies God.

You and I can actually help make a difference in someone else’s contentment and needs—to the glory of God.

God uses people to meet the needs in our lives—for practical things, and even to spur on contentment.

For some of us—this is hard—b/c we hate asking for help—but God designed us for that.

For some of us—we don’t want to give or get involved—b/c this is messy—the goal is to do as a worship offering to God—whatever the results.

and there is a mighty promise

Philippians 4:19 NIV

19 And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus.

God will supply all the Philippians need (key word—need) and it’s based on the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus.

We are going to end with communion—and I want to invite Wesley Summersett and Mike Wilson forward.

We are going to think about Jesus.

God’s ability to give us everything we need is based on the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus.

God’s ability to give us contentment, true soul level contentment is based on the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus.

God has an abundance of riches and grace and glory in Christ Jesus—that He wants to pour into your soul today—to give you contentment. to remind you that He will take care of your needs directly or through others.

and it’s all based on the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus.

and we will reflect on that.

communion is open to anyone who is a believer in Jesus Christ. You don’t have to be a member or attender here—we just ask that Jesus is your Savior, Lord, Treasure, and Friend.

if you don’t have communion elements—would you raise your hand and keep them high!!?

Matthew 26:26 NIV

26 While they were eating, Jesus took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to his disciples, saying, “Take and eat; this is my body.”

the bread symbolizes Jesus body broken for us.

Jesus being God, the riches being in the universe, poured out his body—gave it all for us. He held nothing back. He demonstrated the riches of his glory by paying out debt of sin—with His very life.

Matt. 26:27-29

The New International Version Chapter 26

27 Then he took a cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you. 28 This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. 29 I tell you, I will not drink from this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.”

the cup is the new covenant in Jesus’ blood—that he initiated.

He poured out blood—his perfect blood—he never sinned. It is part of the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus.

He did this for you—so that you will eat and drink on Jesus every day—and taste and see that He is good—and be satisfied.

Jesus was the most content being ever—as he feasted on God and enjoyed God. He experienced the loss of that on the cross, as He became sin for us, so that we could experience true satisfaction in Jesus. and yet even as he experienced that loss—he still called his Father “My God My God, why have you forsaken me.”

W es is going to sing a song about the hills and valleys, ups and downs of life—and how we can be satisfied in Jesus. and we will take communion after that.

take time during this song to reflect on Jesus and your life.

song--

Ending: God has incredible grace—to fuel your soul this week.

Philippians 4:11–13 NIV

Philippians 4:19 NIV

19 And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus.

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The Secret to Being Content

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