Learning To Be Content
- David Fairchild
- Aug 29, 2004
- Series: Philippians
Philippians 4:10-23
10 But I rejoiced in the Lord greatly that now at last your care for me has flourished again; though you surely did care, but you lacked opportunity. 11 Not that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content: 12 I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. 13 I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. 14 Nevertheless you have done well that you shared in my distress. 15 Now you Philippians know also that in the beginning of the gospel, when I departed from
INTRODUCTION
Would you agree that contentment is highly prized in our culture in
What are some ways we have attempted to grasp this elusive virtue?
Money, possessions, power, respect, careers, relationships, or freedom from conflicts and difficulties are all ways that we have attempted to gain contentment apart from God.Yet by that definition the attainment of contentment is unattainable because it is based upon circumstances and freedom from worries in a world that is fallen and disappointing.
Contentment that we are going to be talking about is that sweet, inward, quiet, gracious attitude of spirit, which freely submits to and delights in God’s wise and perfect control of every condition.
Before Paul finishes this letter to his beloved brothers and sisters at the church in
But don’t miss in his condition and thankfulness, his utterly content frame of mind and attitude of heart to the God who placed him exactly where he was.
Paul can’t just give them a simple thank you.It takes him 10 verses to get out what should be easy for you and I because he wants his friends to see God and the peace God brings during times of great trials.
We see from our passage this morning five principles of contentment which flow from his final remarks as he concludes his letter. Trust in God’s providence, satisfaction with little, independence from circumstances, strength from God, and a concern for the welfare of others in times of personal distress.
STUDY
I. A Content Person Trusts God’s
Providence
(FAITH)
Verse 10- But I rejoiced in the Lord greatly that now at last your care for me has flourished again; though you surely did care, but you lacked opportunity.
Paul’s had a gracious attitude because he had patient confidence and trust in God’s sovereign providence.He was sure that God would care for him the way God saw best.
Paul wasn’t panicked, he didn’t try to manipulate people, and he didn’t try to take matters in his own hands.Paul was content because he knew that times, seasons, prosperity, famine, and every opportunity of life are controlled by the same sovereign God who works all things together for good for those who love Him and are called according to His purpose (Romans 8:28), and that God works all things after the counsel of His will (Ephesians 1:11).
On the other hand, God’s providence is not miraculous because it doesn’t interrupt the natural order of things.Instead, it allows for all contingencies, events, words, acts, decisions, and elements of normal life.God supernaturally weaves them all together to fit His purpose exactly the way He willed.
Without understanding God’s sovereign, providential control of all things, we will never be content.With it, we rest in the one who knows the future because he ordained it to be.
II. A Content Person Is Satisfied With Little (HUMILITY)
Verse 11- Not that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content:
This world that pressed in upon Paul to destroy him, the same world that would tell him his life was a waste for living for Christ, the world and all its philosophy and speculation that attempted to control Paul’s life and ministry was unable to take from him what you and I and every human being on this planet longs for…contentment.Paul was blessed by the Philippians generosity.Paul was grateful for the care they gave him.Yet one thing Paul was not; he was not moved from his place of contentment and satisfaction that he had even in the little he possessed.
We are discontent and depressed because we don’t understand the difference between needs and wants.In actual practice, virtually everything has become a “need.”So, we “need” a better job, bigger cars, nicer homes.Women “need” careers outside the home and yet still paradoxically “need” children.Younger people “need” constant and unending sexual encounters to liberate their repression.Children “need” freedom to express themselves outside the “bondage” of parental control.We are like a people running as fast as we can on the treadmill until we drop, and the only thing we accomplish by running faster, is dropping dead quicker.
The chief end of man isn’t to have his needs met, it is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.Because of that, Paul was content with whatever God granted him.
This doesn’t mean that we can’t have anything.Paul says next…
III. A Content Person Is Independent of Their Circumstances(SUBMISSION)
Verse 12- I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need.
If God is God, then He is not only the God of the past, He is also the God of the present, and He is the God of the future.Our hope doesn’t rest in our ability to foresee future circumstances, it rests in the God who is in control of those circumstances.
God has revealed Himself in Christ and in so doing has shown to us that regardless of our current estate, we share in the victory of Christ over sin, satan, and death. We share in His inheritance.We share in His suffering.And you and I share in His contentment.
Can you and I say with confidence that we trust God for blotting out our sin in the past?Do we trust in Him for dealing with what we have done?Does that same gratefulness for our salvation cause us to be thankful for whatever condition we are in today?Do we trust God for today?Can you and I say we trust God for tomorrow?
The existentialist believes after surveying life under the sun, we must conclude it is utterly meaningless.There is no hope, there is no promise of a future gained, a past forgiven, and a present purpose.I would say that I fully agree with their assessment, without the intrusion of the grace of God and the hope of Christ to deal fully and completely with all of life.God to the “emo” crowd, or the postmodernists who reject a great meta-narrative of God’s purposeful plan and action in all of life, is left with a stool, a noose, and hopefully enough courage to dangle themselves until its over.
But not for the child of God…The Child of God sees their frailty and it causes them to cry out to a God who hears, a God who responds, a God who feels, a God who can fix and mend, love and comfort, a God that has taken the utter futility of life and swallowed its bitter pill in the person of Christ who secured for us a now and future hope that is already and not yet.A sure victory that is ultimately won, yet in our lives is in the process of winning.
But Paul had to learn to be content.It wasn’t natural, nor is it to you and I to trust in God.
Paul also knew what it meant to be content with much.He knew how to live and act even when he had plenty left over.I think we live in a culture that doesn’t understand how to live with plenty.
How often and how rich are your prayers when everything is going perfect?We forget about God when things are all in our favor.We forget that the blessings we are experiencing are from God and God alone.God’s word says “every good and perfect gift is from above.”Yet we have a tendency to loose sight of God when all our needs are met.This is why we rarely see people of incredible wealth fully sold out to God.Jesus said it is easier for a camel to enter the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the
This is why it is a blessing that we don’t have everything we want, because God cares for us enough to care more for our spiritual health than our material health.
A child of God is like the great apostle who knows “how” to be content, because he knows “who” to be content in.
IV. A Content Person’s Strength Comes From God (DEPENDENCE)
Verse 13- I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.
This text is saying that Paul was strong enough to endure anything through Him who strengthened him.It is referring to physical, not spiritual things.He is saying that when he reached the limit of his own resources and strength, even to the point of death, he was infused with the strength of Christ.He could overcome the most dire physical difficulties because of the inner, spiritual strength God had given him.
In 2 Corinthians 11:28, Paul was tormented by a “thorn in the flesh.”He repeatedly begged God to deliver him from the torment of that situation.But instead of delivering him, the Lord pointed Paul to the sufficiency of His grace.His contentment came when he was in distress, because he was reminded of the strength of God and the weakness of his own flesh.
V. A Content Person Thinks Of The Welfare Of Others (UNSELFISHNESS)
Verses 14-19- Nevertheless you have done well that you shared in my distress. 15 Now you Philippians know also that in the beginning of the gospel, when I departed from
Individuals that live only for themselves with never be content, and because their contentment comes only when their circumstances are how they want them to be, the spend all their time trying fix their life into the order they desire.They will never be happy, because you can’t be sovereign over life’s challenges.
Only those who unselfishly put other’s well-being above their own will find contentment.Their life is not consumed with them, it is consumed with God and others.
The Philippians had been gracious to Paul and more than one occasion.They had “done well” to share with him in his affliction.But Paul’s rejoicing over their gift was because of the benefit it brought to them.The principle of those that give generously will be blessed is taught over and over again in Scripture.
Paul was an example of one who generously gave to the poor, as he reminded the Ephesian elders: “In everything I showed you that by working hard in this manner you must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that He Himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive’” (Acts 20:35).
The New Testament teaches us that Jesus is the source of all of God’s riches. In Him “are hidden all the treasure of wisdom and knowledge” (Colossians 2:3).
The crucial lessons in contentment illustrated in Paul’s life are this: faith, humility, submission, dependence, and unselfishness.Those five virtues characterize all who have learned to be content.
CONCLUSION
20 Now to our God and Father be glory forever and ever. Amen. 21 Greet every saint in Christ Jesus. The brethren who are with me greet you. 22 All the saints greet you, but especially those who are of Caesar's household. 23 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.
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