TEXT : Philippians
4: 10-13
TITLE: The Nature of Contentment
Date :
14/10/2012
“I rejoiced in the Lord greatly that now
at length you have revived your concern for me. You were indeed concerned for
me, but you had no opportunity. Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I
have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. 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. I can do
all things through him who strengthens me.” (Philippians 4:10-13 ESV)
For
a number of years now, during the month
of October[1] I have sought to be mindful of the fact, that as the seasons change, and as the heat sets in, and as
the end of the year rapidly dawns upon
us with all its pressures, and as people grow tired, that there is a tendency among
Namibians towards frustration,
despair and depression.
What
shall we say about these things? Shall
we throw up our hands and capitulate to
these inevitable facts, or shall we be wise and with the help of God and His Word gain understanding concerning these
things?
Primary truth: We are not in
the hands of the weather or our
circumstances. We are in the hands of almighty God! Yesterday, a Pakistani pastor speaking on behalf of the persecuted church
in Pakistan said to us: “We
are not here to show you our wounds , we are here to show Christ! What a
God centered perspective! Christ is with us in October
2012 and through the rest of the year and forevermore!
With
that in mind, I want to address
an issue at the heart of the matter. It is the matter of being content
or being discontent with where we are at, at this time. Nobody wants to be miserable and discontented. Obviously the
desired goal is to be content. The problem is that we only want to be
content with those things that suit us ,
and not in ‘whatever situation’ as our text would indicate!
With that in mind let us learn the following from
Scripture:
1.
The danger of
discontentment
2.
You can be content
3.
You need to
learn to be content
4.
You need to learn to be content in every situation
5.
Christ really
helps you to be content
1.
The danger of Discontentment
Speaking
from Paul’s perspective here, he might
have been severely tempted to be
discontented with his plight in
this Roman jail, facing the real possibility of execution. But we find nothing of the kind in this letter. Itis anything but a ‘moaning session’ , a ‘ get
-me -out -of –here’ plea! It is a
letter noted for its joy, and Paul’s joy
was rooted in
the profound perspective that he
understood that God was in all this: “I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really
served to advance the gospel, so that it has become known throughout the whole
imperial guard and to all the rest that my imprisonment is for Christ.” (Philippians
1:12-13 ESV)
“Yes, and I will rejoice, for I know
that through your prayers and the help of the Spirit of Jesus Christ this will
turn out for my deliverance, as it is my eager expectation and hope that I will
not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage now as always Christ will be
honored in my body, whether by life or by death.” (Philippians 1:18-20 ESV).
You will not find
a trace of discontentment in the apostle Paul as
he reflects on his imprisonment.
Quite on the contrary in our text
in Phil 4:11 he says: “I have learned in whatever situation I am to
be content.”
So,
how is it going with your soul in this
matter? What are you currently facing?
Are you content? If not, what is making you discontented? Is what you are currently experiencing worse than what the apostle Paul is going through? Is it worse with you than
the man whom I have seen in
hospital with the gangrenous intestines over these past few
days?
Sometimes it is just a
matter of altered perspective!
2.
You can be content
Contentment is attainable! Paul has learned it. If you
are tempted to think that it was easy for
Paul, then think again. He was not a super spiritual being. He plainly
confessed that he did not achieve the state of contentment in his own strength. He freely confesses that
he is helped in this matter: “I can do all things through him who
strengthens me”. The God who strengthens Paul is the Gods who also strengthens you! The secret of Paul’s contentment is the knowledge of God’s power working in and through Him. So don’t
look for the right attitude in yourself;
don’t think that you have it in you to
be content. Look to Him who strengthens you. This is true
for all things - whether you
have an extreme situation (unfairly accused and put into prison) like Paul, whether you have a
chronic illness, or difficult
relationships at home, a less than
ideal or difficult job or financial
challenges - you can be content through
God who gives you the
ability to do that.
3.
Contentment can
be learned
Twice
in this passage Paul says that he has ‘learned’ to be content. Two different
words are used. The first word “I have learned (Gr. ‘manthano’) in whatever situation…” is the conventional word for the
learning process, whereas the second word “I have
learned [2]
( Gr. mueō) the secret
of facing plenty and hunger…” refers to being
initiated into a mystery … hence translated, “I
have learned the secret”. Paul was
trained and instructed by God in the
secret of being content. This indicates
that this does not come naturally. It is contrary to our natural
logic. The world, for
instance, tells you that in order
to become content, you must get out of the bad situation that you are
currently in. Biblical logic tells you
that you can be content in a sticky situation, with God in charge and at the
center of your life. Daniel in the lion’s den ( Dan 6) is a
great example. This contentment in ‘whatever situation’ does not come naturally, but
if you will trust God for it, you will
see that God does indeed give you a
peace such as the world cannot give ( Jn
16:33; Phil 4:7 ).
This
does not necessarily mean that when we have
experienced contentment in a
matter once, that we will have it forever. It is very likely that you will
be tested again and again,
but the beauty is this, that as you see God helping you with your situation time after time, you begin to see the
reality of it, and then you are able to say with experience … “I have learned the secret.”
4.
Learn to be content in every situation
“I have learned in whatever situation
I am to be content”. Many times
we appear to be content with a
particular difficult matter, until
another matter comes along, and
then discontentment strikes you hard. Paul wants us to know that God is
in charge of all our situations
- “whatever
situation”. We must recognize every
providence which God brings into our lives . We must remember that
nothing happens to the child of God which
his /her loving heavenly Father has not allowed. This forms the
background to Paul’s famous and oft quoted statement in Rom 8:28:
“And we know that for those who
love God all things work together
for good, for those that are called according
to His purpose”. Even in the most oppressive and mysterious and unexplainable, ‘Job –like’
circumstances we must be ultimately content to know that God knows what he is doing.
“All the way my Saviour leads me, what have I to ask beside,
Can I doubt His tender mercy who through life has been my Guide
Heavenly peace , divinest comfort, here by faith in Him to dwell,
For I know that whate’er befall me, Jesus doeth all things well.”
Fanny Crosby ( 1820 – 1915), who wrote this hymn , was blinded by a medical mistake
at 6 weeks old. She became one of the most famous Christian Hymn writers
of the church. Her fist
composition at the age of eight read:
"O what a happy soul am I ! Although
cannot see,
I am resolved that in this world contented I will be;”
I am resolved that in this world contented I will be;”
This
became her life philosophy. She admits that had it not been for her affliction she
might not have had so good an education,
nor so great an influence, and certainly not so remarkable a memory. She had committed to memory the first four books
of the Old Testament, and also the four Gospels before she was ten years of
age. She was content, although I would
venture to say that this took time !
Unfortunately,
some
professing Christians, in their hour of trial
have not been able to resist discontentment and have
developed intense anger (e.g. at the loss of a spouse or a child) which
in some cases had led to an abandonment of faith. In such instances one wonders whether
there had been grace in the soul
at all.
William
Barcley reminds us that, “Contentment does not come by finding
conditions suitable to us, but by God’s fashioning our spirits to our conditions.”[3]
5.
Christ really helps you to be content
This
is the leading thought which really
runs through Paul’s statement , and I
thought that it is worthwhile to end on
this note as we come to the Lord’s table. Resting in Christ is what makes us really content. I did not exegete
that word translated in v.11 as ‘content’ (Gr. autarkēs) which actually literally
translates as ‘being self sufficient’ when I could have done so at the beginning.
I did that deliberately, because I did
not want you to get the wrong impression about this self sufficiency, as
if it
would prove that after all
‘contentment’ is your choice ! It
all depends on you. Not at all !
This ‘self sufficiency’ , this
ability to be content, is really a gift from God!
When Paul
spoke for instance about his
thorn in the flesh (2 Cor 12:7), which was
aggravating him , and which had the real potential to make him
discontented, God spoke to him saying, ‘My
grace is sufficient (Gr. arkē) for you’.
In
2 Cor 3:5 Paul says that ‘our sufficiency is from God’. To be self-
sufficient as a Christian means to be well supplied by God, who in Christ
Jesus and by ‘His
divine power has granted us all things
that pertain to life and godliness…’ (2 Peter 1:3).
In
Matt 6 :25ff Jesus speaks about the sin of anxiety (discontentment) and
He gives us a way to deal with it when He says : “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these
things will be added to you.” (Matt 6:33). Bring God into the center of
your discontentment and you will be surprised
how well you will be enabled to
be content.
And
so we can really say : ‘I can do all
things through him who (sufficiently and according to my need) strengthens me’. Thank God that we can look to
Christ in all things pertaining
to our contentment. Amen !
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