Secret to Contentment

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Pray

In the fall of 1863, President Abraham Lincoln issued two landmark statements. The first was the famous Gettysburg Address in which Lincoln commemorated the battlefield of Gettysburg. The other statement, made just weeks before, may be a bit more surprising. On October 3, 1863, President Lincoln instituted the first official Thanksgiving holiday.

Lincoln wrote, “It has seemed to me fit and proper that [the gracious gifts of the Most High God] should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and one voice by the whole American People.” Thus, Lincoln set apart the last Thursday of November as “a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father.” Apparently, in the midst of the worst war our nation had ever seen, Lincoln thought the time was ripe for gratitude.

We may be tempted to think Lincoln’s statement of gratitude was inappropriate, naïve, or even offensive. Reading the entire text of Lincoln’s Thanksgiving Proclamation, however, corrects the modern reader from the conclusion that he had (somehow) forgotten about the Civil War. Lincoln candidly addressed the horrors of the Civil War, a war as he said of quote “unequaled magnitude and severity” that had transformed tens of thousands of Americans into “widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife.” But he coupled this hardship with hope, recognizing the hand of God guiding him through the valley of the shadow of death.

You see, Lincoln wasn’t confused. Instead, he gave thanks in the midst of Conflict and Hardship.

But here’s my question this morning…. What about us…. We things get tough in life, when things get difficult… how do we view things? You see, I believe Lincoln was seeing thanksgiving through a biblical lens. That in the midst of war, I the midst of utter chaos, that they could still give thanks… but what about you?

You see, the truth is… this Thursday, we will all sit around a table and eat, and then eat, and after we eat, we’ll eat some more… then we’ll probably watch some football before we… eat some more. The point is, we’ll be stuffed. Stuff more than a big ole Tom Turkey… but are you spiritually full this morning?

You see, you can be physically full. But spiritually empty. You can be stuff inside with food, but starving in terms of your contentment, and joy and thanksgiving.

This morning, my prayer is that before thanksgiving even starts… that you’re already full.

If you have, your bibles, turn with me to Philippians 4 this morning. Paul is going to lay out the secret to contentment for us.

Paul going to give us the secret sauce.

Just by a show of hands does anyone have a favorite food during thanksgiving? What…? Sweet potatoes, turkey, pies...

How bout this, does anyone have a secret family recipe or sauce?

Well Paul lays out the secret recipe this morning. And it’s ultimately the key to contentment in life. There are 3 ingredients that we need to do add to find contentment in life. 1. Pray 2. Take control of our thoughts 3. Be content with Christ

1. The secret sauce requires prayer.

Turn with me to Philippians Ch 4. And as we’re turning there this morning, I want to paint a picture of the scene that we’re encountering. Many of you know the details of Paul’s life, that he was highly intelligent, very devoted to the Jewish laws and customs, a Hebrew of Hebrews from the tribe of Benjamin. He was a pharisee, and based on the law or doing good works, he was as Philippians 3:6 tells us, faultless. But you also recall that he had a major problem in that he did not believe that Jesus was the messiah, the son of God. And so, one by one, Paul signed off on, and agreed with the Killing of Christians.

We also recall this morning however, that in time. On the Road to Damascus, that God completely changed his life. That on this road, a bright light from heaven shown around him. That God would speak to Paul and ask him why was he persecuting him, and then for 3 days, pails Goes blind. The bible tells us in Acts 9: 18 that after 3 days, “Immediately, something like scales fell from Saul’s eyes, and he could see again. He got up and was baptized.” So, we see that not only is there a physical change that is taking place… but also, there is an inward change, he gets, he is baptized, and from that point on… he commits to serving Christ.

And as you know, Paul was extremely influential in the early church, going from one missionary campaign to the next, highly influencing his peers and proteges, and was used by God to write about 1/3 of what we now call the New Testament. and so, he’s been highly influential and effective in his ministry.

And yet, what I want us to see this morning, is that his contentment in life, has nothing to do with his circumstance, it has nothing to do with what he has, or how physically fed he is. Instead, it has everything to do with Christ.

You see, at the time of this writing, Paul is addressing the young church in Philippi, who he was influential in starting. And yet, he’s writing to them from a Roman Prison cell. He writes to this church, who is also going through persecution and difficulty also by those living in the region of Philippi who are largely roman in descent, and here Paul, although in chains, goes on to encourage his brothers and sisters and Christ.

He tells them: “4 Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! 5 Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. 6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

And so, Paul, being in a Roman prison cell could understand and empathize with this Philippian church, and the first thing that he tells them is rejoice always. Then he says it again, rejoice. He tells them to let their gentleness be evident to all, the Lord is near. Then he tells them do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition (or requesting), with thanksgiving, present your request to God… and the peace of And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding (in other words, it makes no sense…) will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

You know, for me, Philippians is one of my favorite books. And in seminary our professor took small sections of this book and asked each of us to preach a sermon based on the text. And so, for me, the book of Philippians is one that I understand better than others… there’s been quite a bit of time spent chewing on the message. But In my past, going back to my time in the Navy and most of my years in my 20s…. I used to worry a lot, and be anxious, and worn down… anyone feel like that ever?

Yeah, life can be tough. I mean, especially this time of year, with the Holidays coming up, and things to do… Life, if we’re not careful, can cause us to be anxious, it can cause us to worry and be stressed out… and yet here, Paul says: do not be anxious about anything, or in the Hebrew, simply it says be anxious for nothing. In other words, anxiety will yield you nothing… instead, through prayer and supplication which simply means to seek and Ask God, with thanksgiving, what you will bring about is peace.

You see it’s simple you can’t expect to wrong ingredients to bring about the right results. In fact, I’m reminded of a time when my wife made me blackberry cobbler… anyone like blackberry cobbler this morning? Well Kim had worked really hard (by the way, Phyllis told me every time I talk about Kim, I’m going to owe Kim $5) so I figure I might as well get my moneys worth on this one…

But Kim had been preparing all day to make this amazing blackberry cobbler. And so, she had the freshest ingredients, sugar, cream, butter, fresh blackberries, and of course vanilla ice cream to top it off… but there was one major problem, Kim used all-purpose flour instead of self-rising flour. You see, Self-Rising Flour- it contains an agent that helps make baked goods rise. So, It’s often used to make biscuits and other fluffy baked goods. (pancake)

Now 2 things. This was years ago, so I can talk about it today without having to sleep on the couch tonight, but 2. in Kim’s defense, this was a slight overlook, a slight discrepancy, that lead to the end result.

Here’s the point, Paul knows the secret sauce, and so he tells us. If you’re going for peace… the ingredient is prayer.

You see, some of us this morning have great intentions, but we’re putting the wrong ingredients in the bowl. Church, prayer leads to peace. So practically speaking, when you get home, when you start to feel the same anxiety coming down… would I encourages us to add peace into the mix. as James 1:22 tells us: 22 Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.” And by the way, when we talk about prayer. This is something you do only when things have gotten really bad, no it should be built into your life as something you do on a regular basis. (would be like getting your oil changed only after the engine has died)

2. The secret sauce requires controlling your thoughts.

Philippians 4:8-9 continues8 Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. 9 Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.

So, Paul continues here, this time here transition from prayers and petitions and continues on to this idea of our thought life. He says, whatever is true, whatever is noble, “ right, “ pure, “lovely, “ admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. 9 Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.

Now I want us to draw our attention back to verse 9 for a second. Paul explains that whatever we’ve learned or received, put it into practice. And again, we circle back to James 1:22 and put it into practice.

But here’s a thought that will stretch your thinking… you have, the capacity to change your thoughts. Perhaps not entirely, Right? I mean if you’re driving on the road, and you cross through a green traffic light and there’s an oncoming vehicle that fails to stop and so they are coming at your driver’s side door… your thoughts in this moment will certainly be about the immediate moment.

Or if you think of stepping on a Lego as your walking through your living room. I promise that your mind goes to the pain… and so it’s not to say that certain things that happen won’t affect your thoughts to some degree; they certainly will.

But here, Paul is urging us to take things, perhaps problems, or worries, or other things that we tend to think about… things that weight us down in life… and insteadfocus on things that are of the Lord. Things that are lovely, and excellent, and pure and so on… and as we do, we find a state of contentment and peace.

You see it reminds me of a story a few years back involving the Chicago Cubs. Now during this season, the team was having wild success, and they succeeded in winning their divisional championship. But at the time, one of their leading hitters was in a slump. Aware of this, Jim Frey, the manager of the team, spotted this hitter in the clubhouse and approached him. The hitter, with hopes of improving his performance, was watching films of himself up at bat. Now, you can probably guess what films he chose to watch. Right! – He chose films of the times when he was in a slump, when he was striking out and generally doing everything but what he wanted. He, of course, was trying to find out what he was doing wrong so he could correct his mistake… In essence however, he was learning in great and greater detail how to be a slump hitter... His manager complimented him on his commitment to the game and on his desire to improve himself… But then Jim made one suggestion that would change the hitter’s life – he told him… Go back to the film room, find films from when you were hitting the ball, I mean really hitting the ball well and watch those films instead of the ones you’re watching.

You see, here’s the point. In pastoral counseling, there’s this idea of solution-based counseling. In other words, you don’t hyper focus on the problem… instead, you focus on the desired changed.

You see, you don’t start with your problems, you also don’t start with what you don’t have, or how you wish things were better. Instead, you look to Christ and allow Him to be the solution.

It’s like if I tell you not to think about a monkey riding on a train… Like try really hard not to imagine a monkey on a train… what’s the first thing that pops into your mind? Or… don’t think about a man catching a football on the field, and again... automatically your mind goes there.

Paul tells us, in essence to get ahold of our minds. To take back control. And how do we do this? 8whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. 9 Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.

Church, peace in life, contentment in life… it doesn’t start by focusing on your problems… instead it starts with focusing on Christ. And it doesn’t start by talking about putting it into practice. It starts by literally putting it into practice. That’s why God gave us this word.

So, the question is, what are you thinking about? what’s controlling your thoughts? What’s affecting your mind?

3. The secret sauce requires controlling contentment in Christ.

10 I rejoiced greatly in the Lord that at last you renewed your concern for me. Indeed, you were concerned, but you had no opportunity to show it. 11 I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. 12 I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. 13 I can do all this through him who gives me strength.

Here Paul lays out 6 different things, he states I know what is to be in need, and to have plenty, whether well fed, or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. So, he discusses 6 different ideas here: to be in need, and to have plenty, to be well fed and to be hungry, to live in plenty and to want… and each of them deal with material, earthly things of this life. Then he goes on to say, he knows the secret to being content and it’s ultimately in Christ, who gives him strength.

You see, there’s a saying… that If you look around, you’re distressed, if you look within your depressed, but if you look above, you’re at rest. What are we looking at?

You see, when we talk about contentment in life… you can’t expect material things to fill you the spiritual void. That’s why as we said early, you can be physically full, whether on thanksgiving or any other day of the year, but you can be spiritually empty.In fact, I don’t need to explain this concept to you… Just think of all the dysfunctional family dinners that will take place on Thanksgiving day all across America… and my point Isn’t to shame any family. But the point is that you can’t expect physical food, material possessions, or even your circumstance to satisfy your inner desire for Christ.

You know a study was conducted by the Harvard Business School in 2018. That was a first-of-its-kind study of over 4000 millionaires in the United States asking them about how much money it would take to make them happy. Each millionaire was asked to report how much they currently had. How happy they were on a scale of 1-10. And then how much money they thought they would need to get to a "10" on the happiness scale. Shockingly, 26%, the largest response was assigned to "10x more," the largest possible option given. 24% chose "5x more" followed by 23% at "2x mores." Only 13% of respondents said they "currently have enough to be happy."

Perhaps most surprising of all, this answer was consistent no matter how much money a person had. This means that someone with 100 million was just as likely as the person with 10 million to select they needed "10x" the amount of money they had to be truly happy. In an interview with The Atlantic, lead researcher Michael Norton suggested that the problem for so many millionaires is comparison. So, the question of happiness is not so much "Do I have enough?" but "Do I have more than those around me?"

Norton concluded, "If a family amasses $50 million dollars but moves into a neighborhood where everyone has more money, they still won't be happy. All the way up the spectrum of wealth, basically everyone says they’d need two or three times as much to be perfectly happy."

Here’s the point. There’s nothing wrong with having nice things. But these things won’t satisfy our inner need for Christ. There’s also the idea that we shouldn’t compare. We see this principle with money. But it also applies to a number of things. Suppose for instance that you compared your wife to your ex-girlfriend, how would that go? Suppose you compared your children, one to the next and pointed out what one is compared to the other.

No, the bible makes it clear, we can be content in all circumstances… and it has nothing to do with what we have compared to another person, it has nothing to do with material possessions, instead it has everything to do with Christ.

Matt 6: 7 And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. 8 Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.

Church, your father knows what you need before you even ask… and he takes care of our needs. The question is are you content this morning.

I’m going to call Lisa back up.

And as we prepare to close out, I just want to remind us of the 3 things we considered this morning. The 3 keys to contentment

1. We see that contentment requires prayer. 1 peter 5:7 says that we can be 7 casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you. Are we doing that this morning… Jesus prayed about everything Church and we’re told to pray without ceasing… are we doing that…

Second, we see the need to take control of our thoughts. The bible tells us to take every thought captive to make it submissive to Christ.

Are we giving thanks this morning? Are we intentional about our thoughts?

And finally, are we content with Christ this morning? Is HE enough? 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 says: 16 Rejoice always, 17 pray continually, 18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.