Philippians 4:10-23 The Secret to Contentment

Chuck Musselwhite

Philippians • Sermon • Submitted 15 days ago • Presented 15 days ago

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Intro

Dedicate Selah Olshove

Paul finalizes his letter to the Philippians by talking about a very important subject… contentment

He shares the secret he has learned with his readers

Contentment is something every Christian needs to learn to obtain and how to walk in it

Some people go to their grave never being content with what they have and where they are at.

Frank Sinatra

His health was in tatters and his life mired in financial wrangles, but Frank Sinatra refused to stop giving concerts. “I’ve got to earn more money,” he said.

His performances, sad to say, were becoming more and more uneven. Uncertain of his memory, he became dependent on teleprompters.

When his daughter, Tina, saw her father at Desert Inn in Las Vegas, he struggled through the show and felt so sick at the end that he needed oxygen from a tank that he kept on hand.

At another show he forgot the lyrics to “Second Time Around,” a ballad he had sung a thousand times. His adoring audience finished it for him.

“I couldn’t bear to see Dad struggle,” Tina said. “I remembered all the times he had repeated the old boxing maxim ‘You gotta get out before you hit the mat.’

He wanted to retire at the top of his game, and I always thought he would know when his time came, but in pushing eighty he lost track of when to quit.

After seeing one too many of these fiascoes, I told him, ‘Pop, you can stop now; you don’t have to stay on the road.’ ”

With a stricken expression he said, “No, I’ve got to earn more money. I have to make sure everyone is taken care of.”

Since Sinatra’s death, there has been constant family wrangling over his fortune

Read Philippians 4:10-13

Transition:

The world often looks at contentment with disdain

Even the proverbial image of laying on the beach with a ice cold beverage is only meant to be temporary

We are to strive, push, and achieve until we are on the top

Second place is still first loser

Yet Paul, one of the most successful Christians ever to walk the earth, took pride in his contentment

Contentment = A state of mind in which one’s desires are confined to his lot whatever it may be.

It is opposed to envy, ambition, and anxiety.

It arises from the inward disposition, and is the offspring of humility

Contentment is a highly prized, but elusive virtue.

The Bible not only identifies contentment as a virtue, but also prescribes it as a command

This morning I want to show you the internal and external workings of contentment

How we can settle the internal struggle to be content and the how to express our contentment externally

Settle the Internal Struggle vs. 10-13

The first part in the secret of contentment is to settle the internal struggle

Contentment can often be looked at as weak and lazy

No one would describe Paul that way

This presents an internal struggle for believers

How can we still accomplish what we want and yet be content?

That is what Paul shows us

He tells us how to settle the Internal struggle and then how to express our contentment

vs. 10 Confident in God’s Provision

The secret to internal contentment is finding your confidence in the right source

Paul’s confidence wasn’t in his bank account or in his personal connections, it was in the Lord and his provision

Several times in Paul’s ministry a care package of support would arrive from Philippi

It would be financial support as well as personal support

It had taught Paul confidence in God’s provision

Being content is based on the assurance that God will provide what you need

God’s providence simply means that God sees to it beforehand

Providence is the working of God in advance to arrange circumstances and situations for the fulfilling of His purposes

Life is not a series of accidents; it is a series of appointments

Learning to trust God to provide everything we need helps us go a long way to being content

Peter & Gen’s housing

vs. 11 Satisfied in Your Situation

Contentment comes from learning to be satisfied in your situation

This doesn’t mean you accept your fate

It doesn’t mean you give up if you’re in a hole

It means to find your joy in the Lord if your situation isn’t ideal

Paul clarifies that he is not in need

He wants the Philippians to know that he has learned to be content in whatever circumstances

His happiness does not depend on circumstances or things; his joy comes from something deeper, something apart from either poverty or prosperity

Most people are convinced that if they just had more money they would be so much happier

Let me tell you that the rat race gets more fierce with each move of the decimal point on your W-2

Gotta look better, Gotta do more, Gotta be a part of everything

Few have learned how “to abound.”

Prosperity has done more damage to believers than has adversity

2 Corinthians 9:8 ESV

And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work.

vs. 12 Independent of Circumstances

A contented person is content independent of circumstances

You will never know contentment if it is based on your circumstances

Paul came from wealth and had it taken away

Paul had gone hungry on the mission trail

Through trial and testing, Paul was “initiated” into the wonderful secret of contentment in spite of poverty or prosperity

The twice-repeated phrase I know how reveals that he had learned by experience and spiritual maturity to live above his circumstances and not to let them affect his contentment

Live above your circumstances

Have a higher calling and greater purpose that isn’t dependent on your success of failure

It is the difficult circumstances in life that most frequently steal our contentment.

Hebrews 13:5 ESV

Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”

Paul was stoned in Lystra

He was beaten and thrown into prison in Philippi

2 Corinthians 11:24–26 ESV

Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea; on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers;

In all Paul’s unique and constant sufferings, he had learned the secret of rising above them. In the midst of all his trials, he kept his focus on heavenly realities

2 Corinthians 4:17 ESV

For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison,

vs. 13 Strengthened by Divine Power

The final aspect of settling the internal struggle of contentment is to be strengthened by divine power

Now we get to the most misquoted verse in the Bible

Paul has just been talking about being content in every situation

He mentions how he has learned to be content with nothing

Then he says “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”

We as Christians are really good a plucking scripture out of context and trying make it mean something else

Athletes put it on their eye black and attach it to their autographs

Motivated business people claim it as motivation for their plan to build their empire

Fat people quote it on the treadmill at the gym when they are trying to lose weight

What they miss in this verse

All of nature depends on hidden resources.

The great trees send their roots down into the earth to draw up water and minerals. Rivers have their sources in the snow-capped mountains.

The most important part of a tree is the part you cannot see, the root system, and the most important part of the Christian’s life is the part that only God sees.

Unless we draw on the deep resources of God by faith, we fail against the pressures of life.

Paul depended on the power of Christ at work in his life

John 15:5 ESV

I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.

The Living Bible puts it this way: “I can do everything God asks me to with the help of Christ who gives me the strength and power.”

The Christian has all the power within that he needs to be adequate for the demands of life. We need only release this power by faith

Express Your Contentment vs. 14-20

The second part in learning the secret to being content is to learn how to express your contentment

vs. 14-16 Meet the need

Titus 3:14 ESV

And let our people learn to devote themselves to good works, so as to help cases of urgent need, and not be unfruitful.

vs. 17-18 Reap the Benefits

Proverbs 3:9–10 ESV

Honor the Lord with your wealth and with the firstfruits of all your produce; then your barns will be filled with plenty, and your vats will be bursting with wine.

2 Corinthians 9:6 ESV

The point is this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.