sermonette: Contentment is Learned

Christ Strenghtens Us
Martin G. Collins
Given 25-Jan-03; Sermon #594s; 12 minutes

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Good afternoon, everyone! The subject that I have to talk to you about today is more in the way of a reminder than it is anything else. Nothing deep, just something that we can all keep in mind throughout our entire lives.

United Feature Syndicate writer Jim Freiberg pictures the elusiveness of contentment in this tongue in cheek way: “If you can look back on your life with contentment, you have one of man's most precious gifts: a selective mind.” I think that applies to all of us.

The message is clear. Every human being has experienced discontentment. And we live in a world of discontented people. You could not go out into the public and find anybody that was totally content with their lives. Especially here in the United States, most people are dissatisfied even though we live in such an affluent society. They never seem to have enough money, a big enough house, a nice enough car, perfect enough spouses or friends. They are inwardly miserable at any one time because they have not found that internal contentment that is so deeply needed in a person's life.

Turn with me to Ezekiel 18, verse 25. The core problem with discontentment is that those individuals believe life has been unfair to them. They think others are better off than they are and have less problems. As a result of their perception of the cards of life that have been dealt to them, they retain a resentful attitude toward other human beings, and often without realizing it, toward God Himself. That is really the crux of the problem—they think they are being dealt with unfairly.

Ezekiel 18:25-29 "Yet you say, 'The way of the Lord is not fair.' Hear now, O house of Israel, is it not My way which is fair, and your ways which are not fair? When a righteous man turns away from his righteousness, commits iniquity, and dies in it, it is because of the iniquity which he has done that he dies. Again, when a wicked man turns away from the wickedness which he committed, and does what is lawful and right, he preserves himself alive. Because he considers and turns away from all the transgressions which he committed, he shall surely live; he shall not die. Yet the house of Israel says, 'The way of the Lord is not fair.' O house of Israel, is it not My ways which are fair, and your ways which are not fair?”

Now these principles here about life and death and sin and righteousness carry over into all aspects of life, when it has to do with contentment, especially. Biblical Israel always had a problem with complaining, as we see in the many examples throughout God's Word, and today the descendants of Israel retain this flaw.

When the two towers of the World Trade Center were destroyed, many thought God had been unfair to allow such a thing to happen. We heard many comments in the news to this effect. They denied that the sins of this nation had anything to do with it, and when very few religious leaders pointed out that the sins of the people were a factor, why God allowed the terrorist attack to happen, they were threatened and made to recant their warning. Now despite 9/11, everyone continued to be discontent in most areas of their lives. It did not wake anyone up, did not change anyone.

Vivian Green in her work, Words of Women: Quotations for Success, rightly stated,

It is not our circumstances that create our discontent and contentment. It is us. That is where the problem lies. We are the ones who decide whether we are going to be content or discontented.

We know that the sins of society have an impact on the members of God's church. The constant bombardment of negativism from the world affects us, even though we work to bear up under the assault that comes at us. Much of the time we feel constant fatigue from the effort we exert in resisting the world and Satan, and discontentment affects us in much the same way.

It is exhausting to be discontent.

But contentment requires work. And so, we just cannot be apathetic about dealing with discontentment in our lives, but we have to work at learning to be content.

Turn with me to Philippians 4, verse 11. Contentment is freedom from irritation, from anxiety, and from worry. The biblical idea of contentment comes from a Greek word that means independence or self-sufficiency. But the apostle Paul used the word in a Christian sense to show that real satisfaction or self-sufficiency comes from God. Remember, he said, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. The apostle Paul could be content whether in poverty or in abundance. And he continually gave God thanks in every circumstance, so we understand exactly where his contentment came from.

Philippians 4:11-13 Not that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content: 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. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

Now in Paul's journeys and imprisonments, he could not help but be at times wanting. But he had learned to bear his own personal trials without anxiety. In verses 11 and 12, Paul said, “I have learned in whatever state I am to be content.” Notice that he said he had learned this. It was not something that automatically happened to him, but there was work involved, and he learned how to be content. It did not just happen without effort. He had he had to work at it because contentment requires faith—the faith that God is just and fair. We know that faith without works is a dead faith.

Now probably by nature Paul had a mind as prone to impatience as others. But God had placed him in circumstances that through hard work and the help of the Holy Spirit would produce a patient and content frame of mind. So God worked with Paul in order to help Paul learn that contentment. He had plenty of experience. And in the course of his life of trials, he had acquired invaluable lessons and contentment.

Remember in II Corinthians 11:24-27 that Paul lists the types of trials [the perils of Paul] that he had to endure as a minister of God. I do not know if you would call it impressive, but it is quite an eye-opening list of trials: Five times the Jews gave him 39 lashes with the whip; three times he was beaten with rods; once he was stoned; three times he was shipwrecked; he traveled often, meaning it kept him away from home more often than not; he lists his perils as that of waters, of robbers, of his own countrymen, of the Gentiles in the city, in the wilderness, in the sea, and among false brethren. So he endured much. His health was affected by weariness and toil, by sleeplessness often, by hunger and thirst, and by cold and nakedness.

I do not know if there is any one of us here that could say that we have been through such things. But yet, he was content even with these horrible things that he endured even under his martyrdom.

He had more than enough time to reflect on the relative value of different aspects of his life, and he had concluded that there was great enough reward in preaching God's way of life to enable him to bear trials with resignation. And we can also look at the same goal, and that is that the rewards will be so much greater than what we have to endure now. Just from that alone we should be able to begin to become content with what we have.

Paul had the perspective that it is wrong to complain at the effect of divine intervention. A spirit of impatience does not produce good fruit, does not solve problems, does not fulfill any desires, and does not supply any needs. Then why be discontent? It solves nothing.

Paul knew that God would provide for him in ways that he could not foresee and that his Savior was able to abundantly sustain him. Paul was content with the way God worked with him, and that is part of the key. We have to realize and really believe to the innermost of our being that God is fair in everything He decides on our behalf, whether that be in sickness or employment, or anything else that we might have to endure that is unpleasant. God is always fair in what He allows.

Turn with me to I Timothy 6, verse 6. To be content in the Hebrew means simply to be pleased. Now of course we are not talking about contentment with evil, with wickedness or sin or anything like that. Neither are we talking about apathy. Paul makes this clear in I Timothy 6 where he qualifies what contentment must be teamed with.

I Timothy 6:6 Now godliness with contentment is great gain.

You could say righteousness with contentment is great gain. There must be obedience and repentance in order for contentment to be of any gain to us.

I Timothy 6:7-8 For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. And having food and clothing, with these we shall be content.

True contentment in verse 6 is more inward than satisfaction. True contentment is a deep-seated habit or permanent state of mind and must be based in godliness or righteousness.

But satisfaction has to do with some specific occurrence or object. For example, when we say “I'm content to stay home tonight,” we are not necessarily being content in the biblical sense, but we are being satisfied to do that because it is not something that is so inward to us. It is not something that is so deeply seated.

A contented mind is an invaluable blessing. It is learned and arises from the hard work of character building that produces the conviction that God is always right. One of the secrets of happiness is to have a mind totally content with all the allotments of the providence of God. It is the conviction that God is fair in all His dealings with us, not some of them, not most of them, but all of them.

We learn contentment through Christ who strengthens us, and that is really where we get our strength and where we should look for the example of someone who was totally content with His life, even though He was beaten more than any other man.