The Curse of Discontent

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Philippians 4:11–13 (ESV)

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.

Intro

What is ‘gunpowder’ faith about? Explosive attributes of the Christian life.

We have spoken about incendiary nature of forgiveness and humility, and today we are going to talk about the highly-charged nature of gratitude and contentment.

Why is gratitude so hard?

We don’t have a clue as to the wealth that we have - the graces that Christ has given to us. There are many things in our life that if taken away we would give any amount of money or our lives to get back. But since we have them, since they are common and normal, we even dare to complain about them. Our marriages, our children, our homes, etc.

The proud don’t give thanks. They are threatened by gratitude. They are threatened by humility and acknowledgement of need.

My intention was to preach a Thanksgiving message, encouraging us from scripture to give thanks. I still intend to do so, but my study led me into a theme that I didn’t expect: the curses of discontent.

There are severe curses for discontentment — This is our study today

Scriptural Survey of Discontentment Curses

Numbers 14:26–31 ESV

26 And the Lord spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying, 27 “How long shall this wicked congregation grumble against me? I have heard the grumblings of the people of Israel, which they grumble against me. 28 Say to them, ‘As I live, declares the Lord, what you have said in my hearing I will do to you: 29 your dead bodies shall fall in this wilderness, and of all your number, listed in the census from twenty years old and upward, who have grumbled against me, 30 not one shall come into the land where I swore that I would make you dwell, except Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun. 31 But your little ones, who you said would become a prey, I will bring in, and they shall know the land that you have rejected.

Psalm 106:6–26 ESV

6 Both we and our fathers have sinned; we have committed iniquity; we have done wickedness. 7 Our fathers, when they were in Egypt, did not consider your wondrous works; they did not remember the abundance of your steadfast love, but rebelled by the sea, at the Red Sea. 8 Yet he saved them for his name’s sake, that he might make known his mighty power. 9 He rebuked the Red Sea, and it became dry, and he led them through the deep as through a desert. 10 So he saved them from the hand of the foe and redeemed them from the power of the enemy. 11 And the waters covered their adversaries; not one of them was left. 12 Then they believed his words; they sang his praise. 13 But they soon forgot his works; they did not wait for his counsel. 14 But they had a wanton craving in the wilderness, and put God to the test in the desert; 15 he gave them what they asked, but sent a wasting disease among them. 16 When men in the camp were jealous of Moses and Aaron, the holy one of the Lord, 17 the earth opened and swallowed up Dathan, and covered the company of Abiram. 18 Fire also broke out in their company; the flame burned up the wicked. 19 They made a calf in Horeb and worshiped a metal image. 20 They exchanged the glory of God for the image of an ox that eats grass. 21 They forgot God, their Savior, who had done great things in Egypt, 22 wondrous works in the land of Ham, and awesome deeds by the Red Sea. 23 Therefore he said he would destroy them— had not Moses, his chosen one, stood in the breach before him, to turn away his wrath from destroying them. 24 Then they despised the pleasant land, having no faith in his promise. 25 They murmured in their tents, and did not obey the voice of the Lord. 26 Therefore he raised his hand and swore to them that he would make them fall in the wilderness,

Look at Deuteronomy ch. 28

Deuteronomy 28:45–48 ESV

45 “All these curses shall come upon you and pursue you and overtake you till you are destroyed, because you did not obey the voice of the Lord your God, to keep his commandments and his statutes that he commanded you. 46 They shall be a sign and a wonder against you and your offspring forever. 47 Because you did not serve the Lord your God with joyfulness and gladness of heart, because of the abundance of all things, 48 therefore you shall serve your enemies whom the Lord will send against you, in hunger and thirst, in nakedness, and lacking everything. And he will put a yoke of iron on your neck until he has destroyed you.

1 Corinthians 10:1–13 ESV

1 For I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, 2 and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, 3 and all ate the same spiritual food, 4 and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ. 5 Nevertheless, with most of them God was not pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness. 6 Now these things took place as examples for us, that we might not desire evil as they did. 7 Do not be idolaters as some of them were; as it is written, “The people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play.” 8 We must not indulge in sexual immorality as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in a single day. 9 We must not put Christ to the test, as some of them did and were destroyed by serpents, 10 nor grumble, as some of them did and were destroyed by the Destroyer. 11 Now these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction, on whom the end of the ages has come. 12 Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall. 13 No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.

[Seems to culminate here]

Romans 1:21–25 ESV

21 For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools, 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things. 24 Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, 25 because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.

How Did Paul ‘Learn’ Contentment?

2 Corinthians 6:10 (ESV) — 10 as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, yet possessing everything.

Always rejoicing, even when sorrowful. We fight with contentment. We

Ephesians 5:20–21 (ESV) — 20 giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, 21 submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.

Giving thanks for everything. Are you thankful for the difficult? Are you thankful for God’s wisdom and mercy, even when it seems like a hard and mysterious lesson?

"as if a man tat is in a great crowd should complain that other folks touch him. While we are in tis world, God has so ordered things that afflictions must befall us, and if we will complain and be discontented upon every cross and affliction, we must complain and be discontented all the days of our lives.” — (Jeremiah Burroughs, The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment, p. 202)

“The devil is the most discontented creature that is in the world; he is the proudest creature that is, and the most discontented creature, and the most dejected creature.” (Jermiah Burroughs, The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment, pg. 201)

Luther — “The Spirit of God extenuates evils and crosses, and does magnify and amplify all mercies, and makes all mercies seem to be great, and all afflictions seem to be little. But, says he, the devil goes quite contrary, to rhetoric of the devil is quite otherwise; he does lessen God’s mercies, and amplify evil things”

What Can We Learn About Fighting Sin With Contentment?

Purity and Contentment.

The opposite of impurity is not frustration but discipline - it’s contentment.

Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary Contentment

Internal satisfaction which does not demand changes in external circumstances

What does this teach us about Christ?

Christ was content in the face of trials - “nevertheless, your will be done”

“A contented heart looks to God’s disposal, and submits to God’s disposal, that is sees the wisdom of God in all; in his submission sees his sovereignty, but that makes him take complacency; it is God’s wisdom. The Lord knows how to order things better than I; the Lord sees further than I do; I see things but at present, but the Lord sees a great while hence, and how do I know, but had it not been for this affliction, I had been undone”? (Jeremiah Burroughs, The Rare Jewel, P. 26)

“In a clock, stop but one wheel and you stop every wheel, because they are dependent upon one other. So when God has ordered a thing for the present to be thus and thus, how do you know how many things depend upon this thing? God may have some work to do twenty years hence that depends on this passage of providence that falls out this day or this week.” - Jeremiah Burroughs

Repentance

Philippians 2:14–16 (ESV) — 14 Do all things without grumbling or disputing, 15 that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, 16 holding fast to the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I may be proud that I did not run in vain or labor in vain.

Reassurance

Romans 8:28 (ESV) — 28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.

Communion