Once there was a king who was suffering from a serious illness. Concerned about how he might be made well, he called together his counselors and wise men, seeking their advice. His most trusted advisor told him that the only cure for him was to find a contented man, get his shirt, and wear it night and day. So the king sent his servants out in search of a contented man, with orders to bring back his shirt. Months passed before one day the servants returned empty-handed. The king was perplexed and said, “Could you not find one contented man in all my kingdom?” The servants replied, “Yes, O king, we found one, but just one in all thy realm.” The king looked upon them with anger and demanded, “Then why did you not bring back his shirt?” They answered the king, “Master, the man had no shirt.”[1]
Indeed, the shirt of a contented man is hard to find. Contentment is a seldom-found virtue in our day and time. In fact, history hasn’t known very many contented men and women. But there has been at least this one – the Apostle Paul. Contentment is not a uniquely Christian virtue. When Socrates was asked who the wealthiest person in the world was, he replied, “The one who is content with least, for contentment is nature’s wealth.”[2] The whole world would recognize the value of contentment, but the whole world has been unable to produce many who could attain it. Yet, the Apostle Paul claims to have become content, and in that claim, he testifies boldly to his confidence in Christ.
Contentment in the life of a Christian is a great testimony, for it says that we are confident in God’s sovereignty and providence. It says that we are never out of His Fatherly care for us, and that He will never leave us nor forsake us. When the world hears us talk about God’s love and care, but they do not see contentment in our lifestyles, they detect hypocrisy on our part. All too often they see in us the same sin that besets most of humanity and that is the polar opposite of contentment – that of covetousness. Whereas contentment is a state of satisfaction knowing that God has supplied all that you need for the situation at hand, covetousness never has enough. Life for the covetous is always lacking just one thing. And so the pursuit begins for that one thing, and if it is attained, it does not satisfy. There is despair, and then the realization that there is one more elusive thing out there that will satisfy, and the cycle begins again. Contentment knows nothing of these pursuits. Contentment says, “God has given me all that I need.”
Most of us, truth be told, fall more in line with the covetous than the contented. But recognizing the surpassing virtue of contentment, and the need for it in our Christian lives, how do we make the transition? How can our lives begin to be characterized by contentment? Here in this passage, I believe Paul tells us three secrets to contentment.
First, let me explain a little of what is going on in the passage. The Apostle Paul traveled through the then-known world preaching Christ and starting churches. He received no salary, but often churches would give him financial assistance to help with his mission. He also supplemented this by his trade of tent-making. Paul has received a financial gift from the Philippian church delivered to the place of his house arrest in
Upon receiving that gift, Paul says, “I rejoiced in the Lord greatly.” Their gift assured him of their love and their support at a time when Paul’s future was uncertain. It was a great encouragement to him. But notice that Paul says, “Not that I speak from want.” In other words, he was not pacing the floor wondering when the next support check was going to come in so he could eat. He never once lost confidence in God to supply all his needs. But he recognized that sometimes God’s provisions comes through the hands of His people. So although Paul was not dependent upon the gifts of God’s people, he was appreciative of the gift and recognized it as coming through them from the Lord. Had he not received the gift, he would not have complained. Without it, he says he was not in want. Paul was content. So how did he do it? How can we do it? How can we become known as contented Christians?
I. Contentment is Learned (v11)
I have learned to be content …
It isn’t automatic. None of us are born with this quality. Left to our own devices most of us would be insatiably covetous and greedy. But contentment has to be learned. The word that Paul uses for learned in v11 means to learn through experience or practice. In its grammatical construction in this passage, it means “to learn how to” do something rather than to learn something in a theoretical or strictly academic sense. It also has the idea of something learned over a process of time rather than at an instant. In other words, you won’t learn contentment today listening to this sermon. But, as you seek to live for Christ, and encounter numerous experiences along your life’s journey, one day you will realize that the Lord has taught you contentment through it all. You won’t remember the day or the time that it dawned on you, you will only know that it has.
In v12, when he says I have learned the secret, this phrase translates one Greek word which was used by the pagan mystery religions to denote being inducted into a secret society. In those religions, a person would go through a ritual, memorize a few formulas, and be initiated into an elite core of people who were privileged to engage in certain rituals and know certain secrets. And all of this was in vain, for they were false religions dedicated to the worship of idols. But Paul says that those who know the true and living God through Jesus Christ have secrets of our own. But they are not learned in dim-lit rooms by saying oaths and incantations. They are learned in the crucible of human experience as one lives and walks with Christ. It is here that Paul says he has been initiated into the society of those who know true contentment.
There are no shortcuts to being content. It has to be learned.
II. Contentment is not dependent upon circumstances (v12)
In this verse, Paul uses three contrasts to describe the spectrum of life he has endured. He has seen humble means and prosperity. He has seen hunger and fullness. He has seen abundance and need. And in these circumstances he learned that God is faithful. Though at times his circumstances were perhaps more comfortable than others, he was never without his most basic needs.
Paul enumerated some of his experiences in 2 Corinthians 11, saying that he had endured hard labor, imprisonment, beatings without number, the danger of death on numerous occasions, whippings, stonings, shipwrecks, robbery, hardship, sleepless nights, hunger, thirst, cold, and exposure. So, he is not merely saying that he has always food, clothing, and shelter. He is saying that often he has not even had these essential things. Yet, he has learned to be content – see in v11 – in whatever circumstances I am. In every situation, the Lord enabled Paul to be content by providing exactly what he needed for that moment. It may not have always been all that Paul wanted, or all that human wisdom deemed necessary, but essentially, if God didn’t supply it, Paul didn’t need it. And the same is true for you and I in the circumstances we face.
Unfortunately today, much of what is being taught and practiced in the name of Christianity runs implicitly, if not explicitly, contrary to this. The most popular spiritual teachers (I hesitate to say Christian, though they use the term freely), are saying that if you have enough faith and walk close enough to God, then you will never be sick, never be poor, and moreover you will be wealthy and everything you do will prosper. So, if you are sick or poor, according to their teaching, you just aren’t yet there spiritually. But don’t fear. A fifty or one hundred dollar gift to their ministry will supply you with a book on how to get there, and maybe even some miracle water or an anointed prayer cloth to help pave the way. But rather than producing genuine spiritual maturity in their followers, these teachers are undermining the truth of God’s word and breeding discontentment in them because they are proclaiming that their circumstances dictate their spiritual condition. So, I am to understand this to mean that when Paul, or Jesus for that matter, underwent times of hardship, they had forsaken the Lord? I don’t think so. Rather Paul said that even in those very difficult circumstances, the Christian can still be content.
That contentment has to be learned, and it is learned through enduring circumstances that are pleasing as well as trying. But once it is learned, you can endure whatever life brings your way knowing that God is in control and He will see through. That is contentment. And that brings us to the third secret of contentment.
III. Contentment comes from the Lord (v13)
I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.
How is it that Paul can be content in times of abundance and in times of famine? He does it through the Lord. This is one of those great verses that all too often gets ripped from its context and applied universally to everyone in every circumstance. Although it is true that nothing is too difficult for the Lord, this promise needs to remain situated in its context of contentment. “All things,” are, in this case, the diverse range of circumstances which face Paul on a daily basis.
In the writings of the Stoics and Cynics, the essence of all virtues was a self-sufficiency that enabled the individual to find within himself or herself all the resources necessary to endure the most challenging circumstances. It was the mark of a wise person who had found in himself the sufficiency that made him independent of all things and all people. But this was not the kind of attitude that Paul describes here, though the same Greek word is used to describe both. Paul is quick to differentiate Christian contentment from Stoic or Cynical contentment by grounding it in the Lord.
It is not self-sufficiency that enables the Christian to remain content whatever circumstances befall him; it is Christ-sufficiency. This notion of Christ strengthening His people occurs throughout the New Testament. Here the phrase is a present participle indicating the ongoing empowerment that Paul experiences daily as the Risen Christ works in and through him.
Daily, you and I face a roller-coaster of circumstances. Life is full of ups and downs. Few of us will ever endure the hardship that Paul faced, and few of us will ever be used of God in the mighty way that Paul was. But the same Christ who strengthened him and enabled him to be content in all of his circumstances can enable us to do the same thing. And as we walk with Christ through the ups and downs of life, we learn that He is faithful and can be trusted to always provide for us exactly what we need in that situation. If He doesn’t provide it, we don’t need it. And over time, as we prove God over and over again through these diverse situations, we learn this contentment. We learn it in the good times, and we learn it in the bad times. We are able to be content in whatever circumstances we are, because the Lord gives us the strength to endure, supplies our every need, and providentially guides us through for His glory.
Contentment – it is that state of complete satisfaction knowing that God will be faithful in whatever circumstance you find yourself. And covetousness is that insatiable desire for more, feeling that you never have enough. So, if contentment is on one end of a spectrum, and covetousness is on the other, where are you on that line? Are you still learning contentment? Most of us are. But hopefully, the longer you walk with Christ, the more you find yourself content in the circumstances life brings your way.
But perhaps this learning process has not even begun for you yet, because like the Cynics and the Stoics, you are looking in yourself for the contentment you need, rather than to the Lord. Perhaps you have never allowed God to meet your life’s greatest need – that of forgiving your sins and reconciling you to Himself. If that is where you are today, then that need can be met immediately by placing your faith and trust in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, recognizing that He died on the cross for your sins and is alive today to give you eternal life, the forgiveness of sins, and the strength you need for daily living. I invite you make that decision if you never have before.
And if God is dealing with your heart about contentment today, then speak to Him prayerfully about that. Recognize that contentment is a great testimony to the faithfulness of God and your confidence in Him. Covetousness, on the other hand, declares that God has failed you and has left you in need. And the world around you watches your life and mine, and basis their understanding of God on what they see in us. Let’s learn this lesson of contentment, so that the world sees our trust in a faithful God who strengthens us to handle whatever comes our way.
No comments:
Post a Comment