The Secret of Contentment

Announcements

I have got the materials to do Shirley’s ramp

We are going to tackle this in the second week in December

Anyone that wants to help on this project come and see me and I will give you the details. We should be able to get it done in a day.

Evangelism Update

We split up in two groups

We knocked on 35 doors

We had one really good conversation

There is a place for you in this ministry

Thursday is Thanksgiving

So we will not be having our Wednesday night book study

We are also going to cancel evangelism today because of the rain

Our message this morning will finish up our series on money and it is also going to prepare us for Thanksgiving

I told Bailey I was preaching on contentment yesterday and she said, “What is that?”

What is contentment?

Contentment—a state of mind in which one’s desires are confined to whatever God has alloted him.

The word content means “sufficient” or “enough”.

It is the ability to be satisfied with what God has given to us.

I want us to think about that for just a second....everything we have is given to us by God (James 1:17), and God promises to give us everything that we need (Matt 6:33).

Contentment then is really about trusting that God does meet our needs and agreeing that is is enough.

We will never be good stewards of our money unless we learn contentment

The reason we spend so much money on things we do not need is because we are trying to find contentment in all the wrong places

So in order to be good stewards of our money, we must learn the secret of contentment

Turn to Philippians 4:10-11

This was written by the apostle Paul

And it is his personal testimony to the Philippian Church of his life and how he found tyhe secret of contentment.

Philippians 4:10–11 (NASB95)

But I rejoiced in the Lord greatly, that now at last you have revived your concern for me; indeed, you were concerned before, but you lacked opportunity. Not that I speak from want, for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am.

Do you wish that you could say that? That you have learned to be content in every circumstance

How many of us in here today could say this with complete honesty that we are truly content regardless of the situation that we are in?

Do you know that Paul wrote this letter from a jail cell in Rome.

And from the jail cell he can confidently says, “I am completely content”. I have everything that I need and even on this dark, dirty, cell floor I can say that I am satisfied!

Do you believe that? Well listen to what Luke records in Acts 16:

When they had struck them with many blows, they threw them into prison, commanding the jailer to guard them securely; and he, having received such a command, threw them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks. But about midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns of praise to God, and the prisoners were listening to them

What a content man who could sign and praise God after being beaten with rods and thrown into a jail cell!

Contentment is not based upon our circumstances

(v 11) “For I Have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am”

That means when Paul and Silas were in the Philippian jail he was content

When Paul was preaching the gospel to hard hearted Jews, he was content

When Paul was hungry he was content!

Whether he was free or imprisoned he was content

Why? Because Paul did not base his contentment on circumstances and neither should we.

We often think that if we could just change our current circumstances that happiness will come

If we get a bigger house

If we get a new car

If we get a new spouse

If we get over this health crisis

If we can just get all of our kids in school and have 6 hours of peace!

Then we will finally have what we always wanted

So we spend money we don’t have, to buy things we do not need.

A bigger house in a better neighborhood

A newer car with better gas mileage

Or we make worldly decisions thinking that we will find satisfaction there

So we trade our spouse in for a better looking one

Or we search for a better job to become successful

BUT what we all find is that none of those things ever deliver!

No matter how much we think they are going to give us what we long for

No matter how much we reason with ourselves

No matter who tells us that those things are what we really need

They will not and cannot deliver what we truly long for!

Solomon was the richest and most powerful man in the world

He bought whatever he wanted

Had any woman that he wanted

His fame went out all over the earth

The queen of Sheba traveled over 1500 miles just to talk to him

He was the wisest man who ever lived

He indulged in all the pleasures of this world

And do you know what he concluded about it all?

Ecc 1:2 “Vanity of vanities...All is vanity.”

Contentment does not and cannot come from the outside

This is why circumstances do not deliver

This is why circumstances

This is why things do not deliver

We will never be satisfied from the outside!

Contentment is learned through Experience

Phil 4:12

Philippians 4:12 (NASB95)

I know how to get along with humble means, and I also know how to live in prosperity; in any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need.

How did Paul learn contentment?

He had been humbled and he had lived in prosperity

He had times when his belly was full and when he was hungry

He had times when there was an abundance and times when he suffered need

God uses circumstances to teach Paul contentment

How many times in your life has God taken you through financial famines?

I’ve been there more than once!

God always shows me I am just as happy with little as I was with much

And God always shows me I have far more than I really need

How many in here have been through a relational crisis

And you thought there was someone that you just could not live without

And in that separation God teaches us that contentment is possible with or without them

How many are going through something right now and you are asking why?

This is God’s school of spiritual growth

And the lesson to be learned is to faithful to God in all times

What God wants us to do is trust in His providence, in His timing, in His wisdom

There is no such thing as luck, chance, or Karma

Our circumstances are not because of happenstance

Nothing happens without God’s approval

That means if we lose a job, then God has allowed it to happen

That means if we get a job God has allowed it

That means if we get sick, God allows it

God is in complete control and He is the supreme Ruler of this universe!

Here is the problem we often have today: we give Satan way more credit than he deserves

So when we lose a job we give credit to the devil

But when we get a job we give credit to God

Kid gets sick we give credit to the devil

Kid gets an A we give credit to God

Sometimes it is God providence that took that job so He could bring about something in us that we couldn’t get any other way

Sometimes God takes us through the desert to prepare us for something much greater that he has coming in the future

Sometimes God keeps us flat broke so that we stay on our knees in prayer and see Him work in supernatural ways!

God will allow things into our lives that we do not like to give us what we really need!

Do you remember Joseph?

Jospeh was the favorite of Jacob’s 12 sons

Those brothers were jealous and threw Joseph into a pit and then sold him into slavery

He was taken to Egypt and then became Potifer’s right hand man

One day Potifer’s wife tried to lure him into bed, but he refused

She was offended and went and told her husband that Jospeh tried to rape her

He was thrown into prison

Through God’s miracles he became second in command in all of Egypt

A famine came across the land and food was scarce

And one day Jospeh’s brothers show up to ask for food for their household

Joseph said this, “As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring about this present result, to preserve many people alive.”

God will allow bad things into our lives to bring about a good result. . Never question what God is doing. We too often blame ourselves and say we are getting what we deserve without considering what God is doing through that. God is so much deeper than we can understand. God takes our mistakes and turns them into treasures.

Rom 8:28 ”And we know that God works ALL THINGS TOGETHER FOR GOOD FOR THOSE WHO LOVE God and are called according to His purpose”

The only requirement in this verse is if you love God.

It doesn’t matter how bad you messed, as long as you truly love God he will tuen your heartache into a triumph.

Contentment is placing all of our TRUST in God to provide

It is about TRUSTING in God in the good times and the bad times.

Whatever God allots to us in our current season of life IS ENOUGH!

Whatever God says we need, is what we need

Where God has placed us there is purpose for it

Contentment is knowing your real treasure is in Christ

Phil 4:13

Philippians 4:13 NASB95

I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.

How could Paul say that he was content with little or much?

Because he did not receive joy from his world.

He did not try to get happiness out of accumulating things

He knew nothing from the outside could give him what he longed for on the inside.

Paul was a man just like you and I are.

He was writing from personal experience.

This does not mean Paul has some kind of power to do anything that he desires

He wrote this letter from jail in Rome

He also knew his death was rapidly approaching.

yet even in the midst of these circumstances, he was completely content

Why? Because even in prison they couldn’t take Jesus away from him!

It provides no superhuman strength

They can take our Bibles.

Paul makes no individual claim here

They can take our jobs, our relationships, our homes.

But they can NEVER TAKE AWAY Jesus

What he is saying is that his source of contentment is Christ

In all of his experiences he realized that nothing even came close to what he had in Jesus

Because He lives within us!

None of the material things, or worldly comforts, or even the gift from the Philippian church could compare to his walk with Christ

Because even if we lose everything we could never lose our greatest joy and that is knowing Jesus Christ.

And this is how Paul faced every circumstance without loosing his satisfaction

That is being redeemed from this world!

That is being forgiven, restored, renewed, given hope, and a future

There is no greater gift in this life than the Son of God who came to save us

Paul had sold everything and purchased the field with the hidden treasure.

He had sold his worldly status and traded it for a heavenly home.

He had sold his goods And traded them for heavenly treasure.

He had traded his wealth, and gained righteousness.

Why was Paul content in any situation?

Because he had something greater than anything this world could offer

And he learned that if he kept his hope in Jesus then he would be content in any and every circumstance

What can Jesus give you that this world cannot?

Only Jesus can forgive your sins!

Only Jesus can change circumstances!

Only Jesus can can give life and give is abundantly!

Only Jesus can bring peace with God!

Only Jesus can truly give us what we long for

Remember Solomon?

He tried everything under the sun and said, it is all vanity

This is how he ends that book, “The conclusion, when all has been heard, is: fear God and keep His commandments, because this applies to every person.”

CONCLUSION

Thankfulness is impossible without Contentment. Contentment is where thankfulness arises from. We focus more on all the things we want and do not have, rather than all the things that God has given us. We lust after worldly things that do not bring joy, and neglect our source of true joy. Contentment is the key.

If you are having a hard time being content then do this:

Make a list of everything that you don’t have that you want

Then make a list of everything that you need

And then make a list of everything that you deserve

And what we will find is that God has been very gracious to us in so many ways

Contentment does not come from the outside.

It comes by trusting in God’s provisions

And it comes by knowing where our real treasure lies in Christ

~PRAYER~