Sermon Tone Analysis

What do you find satisfaction from in life?

New car?

Scratching the Vibe

Hobbies?

Deer mount (but that was two years ago)

Eating at your favorite restaurant?

(but I am hungry for breakfast just hours later)

What does really satisfaction look like?

What does it mean to be truly content?

Contentment means you are able to rejoice

Content: pertaining to being happy or content with what one has, to be happy with the circumstances in which one exists.

“When what you have and what you need are the same thing.”

Paul ends his letter by thanking the Philippians for their gift of money that helped support him while he was in prison in Rome.

Concern: to have an opinion with regard to someth., think, form/hold an opinion, judge.

To think of someone in the sense be concerned about him.

What do we learn about missions from this verse?

Not just about giving money!

Not enough to merely support a missionary financially.

We must have a concern for them.

We must think of them often enough to cause concern about them.

Do you ever have concern for our missionaries?

Do you read their prayer letters?

Do you pray for their needs?

This comes first, and then out of that concern comes our monetary support for their needs.

Need: the condition of lacking that which is essential, poverty (c.f.

Mk 12:44)

Paul is making a clarification in v. 11.

He wants to make sure the Philippians understand that his “rejoicing in the Lord greatly” in v. 10 is not sourced in their gift of money, rather his joy is sourced in his ability to be content.

It is not that Paul was miserable before they sent their gift, but now that he has money he can greatly rejoice.

He wants them to know that his joy was intact before they sent him their gift.

He wants them to understand that his joy is a result of his ability to be content.

No matter what his situation Paul was content and thus no matter the situation Paul was joyful.

Contentment is not dependent upon your circumstances

Paul’s situation in prison- he is dependent on the generosity of other for his daily needs.

There may have been days that he did not have much to eat.

His contentment his joy was not contingent upon his circumstances.

12οἶδα καὶ ταπεινοῦσθαι, οἶδα καὶ περισσεύειν·

I know both how to be brought low / to be humbled / to have a little, and I know how to have an abundance / to abound / to have a lot;

ἐν παντὶ καὶ ἐν πᾶσιν

in any and in every circumstance

μεμύημαι,

I have learned the secret / the mystery (of being content)

καὶ χορτάζεσθαι καὶ πεινᾶν καὶ περισσεύειν καὶ ὑστερεῖσθαι·

whether well fed (satisfied) or hungry, whether having an abundance or being in need;

In any and in every circumstance Paul was able to be content:

Whether healthy or sick, rich or poor, single or married, young or old, free or persecuted, respected or ridiculed . . .

Refutation: Paul does not mean that we should be indifferent to our circumstances.

He does not mean that you should never seek to improve your circumstances.

He is saying that our happiness or our joy in life should not be slave to our circumstances.

The ability to be content is not dependent upon our circumstances.

Why is that so important?

Illustration: Have you ever just finished eating a big meal and your kids come to you and ask, “Daddy what’s for supper?”

If you contentment was dependent upon your food how long would your joy last?

What if your contentment was based on your vehicle?

How long would your joy last?

What if your contentment was based on your spouse?

How long would your joy last?

What if your contentment was based on your hobbies?

How long would your joy last?

Contentment must be learned through grace

I know (2 x’s)- perfect verb-

I have learned- perfect passive

Secret- to learn a mystery v. — to learn special information that was formerly only privy to a deity and those to whom he had revealed it.

We never would have learned this on our own if God had not revealed this mystery to us by his grace!

Important Pauline uses of this word group

Sufficiency / contentment- Here Paul applies the idea of contentment to our giving.

He also connects the idea of contentment with the grace of God.

God makes His grace over-abound to you, which causes you to be content, it causes you to consider your situation in life as sufficient.

And the purpose is to enable you to abound in every good work.

So many people have this attitude toward giving: “I would love to give more, but right I can’t give towards gospel ministry because I need such and such a thing in my life.”

What God’s grace does is to mature your thinking in Christlikeness so that you need less and less of the temporal earthly things of this world, so that you can give more and more toward eternal things for the furtherance of the gospel.

Illustration: Raven crossbow / or I could be satisfied with a cheaper model and use the rest of that money for redemptive purposes.

Refutation: There must be a balance.

We are not to live like monks with nothing but rags to our name.

But, neither are we to use all of the resources that God has given us for ourselves.

We must have a redemptive focus towards our finances.

This comes as one grows in Christ, this is made possible by the grace of God.

Also the order of this text is important.

First God’s grace works in our hearts and produces sufficiency / contentment- and then out of the spiritual work of grace in our hearts we are enabled to abound in every good work.

You will do damage to yourself and to others if you reverse this process.

You need both godliness combined with contentment- then it is great gain.

If you bypass the work of God’s grace in someone’s life changing them to be content, if you do not allow change to take place in their heart so that they become sufficient with less and less of the things of this life- you will cause them to miss out on “Great Gain.”

For Paul, contentment springs from complete readiness to accept whatever God gives (Phil 4:11).

He makes no distinction between the necessary and the superfluous, but simply gives thanks for everything.

He can accept both abundance and want as part of his life, and he gives thanks that he has received both as a gift together with God’s gracious forgiveness and quickening power.

This attitude of contentment is the opposite of the way we were before salvation!

Before Christ, before salvation- this is the way were were.

We were driven by our bellies / our lusts.

Everything was about me, about what makes me happy.

We only gloried in the things that brought us shame.

Our minds were set on earthly things alone!

Thus our contentment was rooted in our lusts, the only thing that made us happy were things that brought about shame, and we had no thought whatsoever to eternal redemptive things.

But, after Christ, we have been taught, by God’s grace- God made his grace abound to us so that we actually became sufficient or content in all things!

For what purpose?

So that we might about in every good work!

Contentment is a gracious work of spiritual growth in our lives.

It must be learned through practical experience.

It should increase the more you become like Jesus!

You will become less and less earthly minded / driven, you will become more spiritually minded / heavenly motivated!

Contentment is sourced in Christ

13πάντα ἰσχύω ἐν τῷ ἐνδυναμοῦντί με.

I am able to do all things in the one who strengthens me.

IN CHRIST- the reason Paul can be content and rejoice in any circumstance is he has learned that the true source of joy is in Christ alone!

Are you content in your life?

Is the normal pattern of your life that of rejoicing?