Fruit Of Contentment (pt-1)

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In his thanking them for the gift that they had sent to him, the way that they had supported him in his need, in the closing of the book and in the thanks, he brings out this lesson that I believe would be important for us to learn.
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We learn lessons as believers like how to love others as God has loved us. We learn the lesson of forgiveness, that we ought to forgive other people as God has forgiven us.
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We learn and ought to learn lessons like patience, and a lesson of humility or of kindness, of hospitality.
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Many of these things you've heard preached from this pulpit. What it is to have a servant's heart, we're to learn that.
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Learning to trust in God, to rely, to depend upon him in all things, and things like waiting upon the
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Lord. But Paul here, if you would look with me, I'm going to begin reading in verse 8. I'm reading from the King James, the authorized version, verses 8 -13.
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Where Paul wrote this church at Philippi and said, ''Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report, if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.
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Those things which you have both learned and received and heard and seen in me do, and the
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God of peace shall be with you. But I rejoiced in the Lord greatly that now at the last, your care of me has flourished again, wherein you were also careful, but you lacked opportunity.
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Not that I speak in respect of want, for I have learned in whatsoever state I am therewith to be content.
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I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things
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I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need.
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I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me.''
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Let's go to the Lord in prayer. Our Father in heaven, we are grateful for the wonderful gift of salvation that you have brought to us.
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We thank you for your great faithfulness, which has continued from day to day throughout our whole lives.
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We're thankful for your great mercies whereby you forgive us, and your amazing grace whereby you saved us, and called us your people, and you have given us the word of God that we've heard in the hearing of our ears, and we pray that it may be effectual this morning, and that it reaches into our hearts, and that it changes us.
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We so desire, as has already been prayed, that we would be learners, that we would be pupils of the word of God, and as your children, we want to be good imitators, imitators of our
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God and know what it is that we ought to do to live day by day, and in particularly this lesson, this morning, we would desire that you would teach it to us.
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I do ask that you would give us ears to hear, and hearts to receive the word, that the preacher may be able to preach from the heart, and that we may be able to listen, and the word would go to the heart of the hearers, and that all of us would learn, and be challenged, and to be able to go from faith to faith, and from strength to strength, and from grace to grace, and that you might just bless us, and equip us for that which is ahead of us.
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All of it, Lord, so that Jesus Christ, your son would be magnified, lifted up on high, and glorified, and we ask it in his precious name.
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So Paul here speaks about a lesson, and I believe that this lesson that I would like to speak from, and speak to, and that we would learn about, it's so appropriate considering the unsatisfied, unhappy, unfulfilled society in which we live.
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The envelope is always having to be pushed. People want more, and more, and people have more, and more in our society, and we see it in our neighborhoods, we see it when we go to work, we see it in the advertisements, that if you want it, you basically can get it.
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If you want to go down to Walmart, you can buy something, mix it with water, and you've got it, anything, it's there.
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I mean, we have an abundance, and yet we live in a day when people, or with all that they have, are unsatisfied.
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People are not happy. I've worked in situations in the past as a painter, and a wallpaperer, and worked in different houses of folks that were very well -to -do, and yet when
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I would look at them, and talk to them, and see it on their face, they were unhappy people, they were unsatisfied, and the more that they got, the more they wanted, and the more when they reached that next goal, they wanted more, they were unsatisfied.
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People are chasing after counterfeit contentment, and that's the lesson this morning. We need to learn to be content, as Paul said in verse 11.
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You notice it there. Not that I speak in respect of want, for I have learned in whatsoever state
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I am therewith to be content. But people are passing by true contentment, the real thing, and settling for counterfeit contentment.
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And by that counterfeit contentment, I mean that you can only enjoy life when everything around you is rosy.
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When you've got everything that you absolutely think that you need at that time, and you are happy because you have possessions, or you have lots of money, or the circumstances are well.
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See, it's on the outside. Everything on the outside is good. And that's why people don't experience true contentment.
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It's because their environment and the world around them do not always end up the way that they want it to be.
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Most people don't know what it means to experience true contentment because they have not learned the lesson of contentment.
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And that's what I put before you this morning. We as pupils, or as disciples, as learners, as followers of Jesus Christ, learn these many lessons like I listed before, of kindness, and of patience, and of humility.
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And here this morning, I would like for us to consider the lesson of contentment. Paul says he learned that in whatever state he was to be content.
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And for a definition of this word, to be content, the Greek word speaks of self -sufficiency.
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It speaks of having enough. It speaks of not needing from other peoples, other people.
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It is a recognition that you have already everything you need.
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It is an inner sense of satisfaction. And this satisfaction is independent.
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It's independent of circumstances. And it's independent of what we have or what we don't have.
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And contentment, as we see here in this verse, is something that we must learn.
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We are students, and we must press on to learn. And the thing that Paul learned was that in whatever state he was in, he learned to be content.
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In verse 12, he gives us some examples there. He says, I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound.
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He says, I know how to be with humble means, and I know how to be when I abound, or when there's prosperity.
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When I'm full or when I'm hungry. Whether having an abundance or suffering a need,
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Paul says, everywhere and in all things. See, we don't pick and choose when we're going to be content.
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It is that we're to be content in every situation, at all times, in all things, he says.
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I have learned this lesson. I believe Paul had learned the principle of Proverbs 15, 16, where the word of God says, better is little with the fear of the
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Lord than great treasure and trouble therewith. So we see that this contentment really is independent of circumstances.
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It's independent of the surroundings around us. It's independent, it's not phased by or it's not controlled by that which is going on around us.
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It's independent of what we have or don't have, our possessions, at any given time.
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Here's a principle. No matter what the circumstances may be, I believe Paul learned this.
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No matter what the circumstances may be, the content person has an inner satisfaction.
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You see, the circumstances do not dominate their lives. They are not controlled by the circumstances.
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Now, I am not saying that we just let our surroundings or let our environment just, you know, this stoic, negative, pessimistic, just, you know, woe is me, it's never gonna change.
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If we can make things better around us by the strength and grace that God gives us to get jobs and to be able to provide, if we can make things better in our lives, then we ought to go for it.
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But if not, if we have to live in with a difficult situation and it's out of our control, if we have to live in a trying situation or with meager circumstances, we should not be controlled by them.
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We ought not to let the world that is around us determine whether we are going to smile or whether we are going to frown.
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It ought not to be those things that are around us. And I'll speak to that a little bit more as we go on.
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A content person will not give up with God just because things in life may be crumbling around them or when things aren't going their way.
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A content person will not grumble and complain about their lot in life. I think of a content man, a content man who went through just a horrendous situation, a horrendous trial and suffering in his life.
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You remember Mr. Spafford who wrote the hymn, It Is Well With My Soul. And you remember the words that he penned.
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These were the words that he penned about the four daughters that he had lost. After he had lost his business, after he had lost his finances, after I believe it was the
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Chicago fire during that time and his daughters were traveling on a ship and there was a storm and the ship was lost and his four daughters were lost.
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And he was able to say, whatever my lot,
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God, you have taught me to say, it is well, it is well with my soul.
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I believe that man learned to be content just like the Apostle Paul is teaching and bringing out in this verse to us.
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And this is a vital lesson for us to learn also. No matter what, we're to be content no matter what happens as far as the things that are in our lives.
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And I call them things, but like our finances or our job or our marriage or our house or our car or our children or our health or the church or people around us or the neighbors or whatever it might be, we realize, we must realize that every single thing that comes to us, comes to us by the hand of God.
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That God makes no mistakes. A content person knows that their, a believer knows that their loving father knows exactly what they need and when they need it.
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A content person knows how to suffer need without being buried by it. And they know how to have abundance.
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The pendulum swings the other way and you have abundance. You're full and filled.
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And you can be that way without being puffed up and without taking your eyes off of the Lord. Also, it's important to note that a
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Christian is the only person who truly can experience real contentment.
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Consider who this is being written to and who is writing this. Paul as a follower of Jesus Christ.
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He is a Christian who knows the Lord. But writing to these folks in Philippi who are believers because of the gospel ministry when
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Paul went into Philippi, we read that in Acts chapter 16. And they too were saved.
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And they too came to know Christ. And you can only have this inner satisfaction if you are in the
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Savior, Jesus Christ, and He is in you. And as I've said, contentment is independent of circumstances.
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It's independent of possessions, but it is dependent upon the strength that the
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Lord gives us. And we see this in verse 13 where Paul says, I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me.
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Only the Christian is enabled to be content because they know the divine enabler.
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This morning, if you're listening to this message and you're not a believer, you're not in Christ, then the message is something for you to listen to as far as learning contentment so that you can see it in the lives of other people who claim to be
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Christians. And maybe you can look for that example and that might be an encouragement for you when you see it lived out in their lives.
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But for you, if you're lost here this morning, if you're not in a relationship with Christ, then the word of God tells us that the heart of man is never satisfied.
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And there never will truly be true contentment until you repent of your sin and turn from it and turn to the
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Lord and call upon the Lord and be saved and be in vital union with Christ.
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As Paul said in chapter three, verse nine, he says, I'm found in Him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith, by believing upon the
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Lord Jesus Christ. His finished work on Calvary, His death and burial and resurrection for the justification of your sins.
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You call upon Him, He saves you. You are found in Christ. You become a disciple of Jesus Christ at that time, a learner, a follower, and then you can learn this message or take a note of this message this morning and be a person who goes on to learn the lesson of contentment.
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Those who, the Bible says in Colossians 1, verse 19, that all fullness dwells in Christ.
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And if you want to experience the fullness of life, the completeness of life, then you have to know
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Christ in a personal and real way by faith. You can only know this inner satisfaction, this true contentment if you are in the all -sufficient
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Savior. The writer to the Hebrews put it this way in chapter 13 and in verse 5, he said, let your conversation or let your manner of life be without covetousness and be content with such things as you have for He has said,
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I will never leave you nor forsake you. You see, the means, the basis for that man's contentment is not the things that he has.
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Those things won't bring the contentment. The contentment is because God has said, I will never leave you nor forsake you.
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You'll never be an orphan. You'll never be forsaken. God will never walk away from His people. That is something that brings us true joy and contentment.
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I'll deal with that even a little bit more as we go on. But even though we're believers and even though we're followers and even though we want to learn this lesson of contentment,
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I must give a warning, just because you are in Christ, it doesn't mean that you will always experience contentment.
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All you have to do is look back on last week or last month or last quarter or last year. We saw a time when we were not content, don't we, brothers and sisters?
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We saw a time when circumstances, surroundings, things that were done to us, things that were said to us, we were hurt, we suffered, there was a trial, and we weren't really content through that.
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I trust the message will help us focus properly and look properly where true contentment comes from.
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And there are three means of contentment that I would like to cover this morning that we should consider in this chapter, which
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I believe that if we would consider, if that we would reason through, if we would meditate upon, if we would apply and put these things into practice in our life, they can lead us to experience true contentment.
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The first one is to experience biblical contentment. I read the verse, verse 10, but we did not look at it.
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The first point is we need to have a confidence in God's providence, because I believe that if we have a confidence in God's providence, it will help us to be a content people.
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Verse 10, Paul wrote, I rejoiced in the Lord greatly, that now at the last your care of me has flourished again, wherein you were also careful, but you lacked opportunity.
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Even though the Philippians did not have an opportunity to express their concern for Paul at times, it didn't faze him.
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Paul didn't panic when the money didn't come in, when the support wasn't there. It didn't knock him out of the saddle.
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He didn't try to manipulate the Philippians and squeeze financial support out of them.
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Why? Because he knew that God was in charge of the times and his times in his life.
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God was in charge of the seasons and of the opportunities. That's what it means by God's providence, that God is sovereign over all circumstances in our lives.
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And notice what Paul says in verse 10. Now, at the end of this book here, he is thanking the
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Philippians. And he's kind of got a little bit of a dilemma here. He wants to thank the Philippians and let them know that he really, really appreciates what they did, that they were fondly affectionate of him and they cared for him.
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He wanted to be careful to thank them, but he also wanted to say it in such a way that it wasn't like he was dependent upon them.
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He says here, not that I speak in respect of want, not that I was in need, because God's going to take care of my needs.
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And he puts it this way a little bit even further in verse 17. This dilemma he's in. He says, not because I desire a gift.
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He's trying to put it in such a way that he can thank them, but let them know that he appreciates it, but not that his joy or his contentment was based upon the fact that they did give.
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They did something well. And we're going to hear of that tonight. The second part of the message will be the fruit of contentment of the latter part of the chapter.
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But here he's careful in thanking them, but he also says, notice what he says. He knows that they have given him this gift, but he says,
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I rejoiced in the Lord. I rejoiced in the Lord greatly, he says.
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Paul understood that the Philippian believers had cared for him, and they took care of him in his suffering, but ultimately he knew that it was
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God who had provided for his needs. That's why he says, I rejoiced in the
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Lord. Sometimes we just say, you know, we're thankful to God and we rejoice in the
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Lord. And yet sometimes we don't really think about what it is that we're saying when we say that. What we are saying is that God is sovereign over our lives and he loves us and he's provided for us, and we rejoice in him because it comes from his good hand.
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And Paul understood that. He knew that what he had, or what he didn't have in his life was not the basis for his contentment, but he understood that if he had a confidence in God and he could trust
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God for his life, and in this case here he rejoices in the Lord, that confidence in God's providence is something that brings him, or is a means of contentment.
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Listen, if we know that our Lord is working out all things for us, Psalm tells us,
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I think it's Psalm 115 and verse 3, that the Lord is in the heavens and he has done whatsoever he has pleased.
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In Romans chapter 8 there's a verse, I'll turn there and read it, just hold your place there if you'd like to.
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In Romans 8 there's a verse that Pastor Mike likes to quote, and it's the argument of the greater to the lesser.
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In Romans 8 and verse 32, the word of God says, He, God, that spared not his own son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?
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What Paul is saying there when he wrote to Rome, he's saying that if God didn't spare his son Jesus Christ and gave him to die on the cross to suffer for us,
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God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life.
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If God would give Jesus Christ to die for his enemies, to die for those who are outside of Christ, to die for those who are fighting against God, to die for those who were aliens of the commonwealth of Israel, to die for those who had a darkened understanding, who were blinded to the things of God, and those who were not seeking after God.
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If God would give his son Jesus for them, and in so doing save them and make them his people, then, he says, won't he do the rest and take care of them?
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If he saved their soul, will he not take care of them all the days of their life? Surely, and as the psalmist said, Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the
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Lord forever. God cares for us. He never makes a mistake. He orders every step.
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He orchestrates every opportunity. And when we are confident about that, this can result and lead to and help promote contentment in our life when it comes to anything.
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We'll be content with the house that God gives us because who gave it to us? God gave it to us. We'll be content with the car.
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Now, Brother Dave, you're going a little bit too far. You haven't looked out in the parking lot and you haven't seen my car. Well, I drove one of those type cars before I know what you're talking about.
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But it's the car that God gave you and is allowing you to have it this time. And we can be confident that God doesn't make any mistakes.
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And we can be content with what God has given us when it comes to our family, when it comes to our friends, when it comes to the spouse that God gives us, the bank balance that we have or don't have, the health that we have or don't have, the mind that we have, the body that we have or don't have, the hair that we have or don't have, whatever it is,
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God knows the number of the hairs on our head. He's orchestrating that too. It's out of our control.
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And we need to be content. The confidence in God's providence will lead us to contentment.
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We will be able to rest assured that our God is doing all things well and that He will provide exactly what we need and just when we need it.
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Now, apart from this high view of God, we will never know contentment. When I say a high view of God, I mean that we know that He is
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God and that He is in control and that we can trust Him. The person with a high view of God can say,
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I can have confidence in God. A low view of God says, I have no confidence in what
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God is doing. I have no confidence in God's providence. I need to take control of my situation.
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God is not providing for me. I don't have enough now. I need this. Isn't it so amazing that the
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Lord says that He will provide not what we want, but what we need? God gives us what we need and He will give it to us when we need it.
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But the person with the low view says, God's not providing. It's just not there. And I need to figure out how to make this thing happen.
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And as soon as we take the reins and we take control, you can be assured that it is not going to work out for the glory of God because it's not the will of God and discontentment will creep in.
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When we take control, this discontentment is sure to come along.
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The person with a low view of God begins to complain. They begin to grumble. It reminds me of the children of Israel in the wilderness.
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They loathe this bread. This stuff that keeps coming from heaven. This manna that keeps coming down. We eat it day after day.
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We have this manna pancakes in the morning and manna sandwiches for lunch and manna casserole for supper.
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Manna, manna, manna. It's all we have. They complained about it. And what did they do? They grumbled against God.
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They were not content. Can you imagine that? They're out in the wilderness for 40 years and God is taking care of them.
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I have heard that it's somewhere, and this is an approximation, what was brought to them in manna each day was the equivalent of about 40 train boxcars full of manna every day.
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A million plus people. Some say up to almost 2 million people. God was taking care of them. And they grumbled and complained because they had a low view of God's providence.
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We begin to complain about our circumstances and situations when we do that. God is not doing it in our timetable.
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And if they aren't complaining, then they might be worrying and anxious and not happy. But a high view of God comes when we consider who
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God is. It's our God. As Thomas said, my Lord and my God. That writer to the
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Hebrews says, I can be content, not in the things that I have, because God has said,
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I will never leave you nor forsake you. He is our portion forever. We are the
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Lord's. And He is ours. As it says in the Song of Solomon. The people who have the low view worry.
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They're anxious. And they're not happy. So the first point, as far as the first means of contentment is a confidence in God's providence.
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Secondly, in order to learn to be content, we must have a commitment to spiritual growth.
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A commitment to spiritual growth. We know that the Apostle Paul is an example of a man who is committed to pressing on in his
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Christian life. In chapter 3, after many, many years of even serving the Lord Jesus Christ, being rescued on the road to Damascus, God intervening and breaking into his life, and arresting the
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Apostle Paul, and making him one of his dear children. Paul is still saying in Philippians 3 and verse 10, that I may know him.
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He's still pressing on. He wants to know him. He wants to know him closer.
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And he wants to know him in the power of his resurrection, and in the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death.
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He said, and he goes on in these next verses in chapter 3, and he says, you know, I'm forgetting those things which are behind, and I'm pressing forward.
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He's pressing on like an athlete who is giving it all that he can. He's a man who is pursuing godliness in his life.
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Wanting to know the Lord more. Forgetting the things that are behind and pressing on.
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His faith is a focused faith. Notice some of the words that he uses here in verse 11.
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He says, I have learned in whatsoever state I am therewith to be content.
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That word learned in the Greek is a sister word, or a closely related word to the same word translated in the
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New Testament as disciple. He's a learner. He's a discipler.
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He's one who is following after Christ, and he wants to know him more, and he wants to glorify him more in his life.
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And he's constantly learning. He's pressing on to know more and more. Notice in verse 12.
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He says, I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound. He says, I know these things.
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He's gone through these experiences in his life that have taught him these lessons.
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He says, I am instructed also in that verse. Or, and I think in the New America it says, he has learned the secret.
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I'll get into that, touch on that in just a minute. He has learned so many things.
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And the things that he has learned, he tells these Philippian believers, even in chapter 4 and in verse 9, he says, those things which you have both learned and received and heard and seen in me, you do them.
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Do them, and the God of peace shall be with you. He was a good example. He was one that they could imitate.
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Because as he was following Christ, they were to follow his example. That is truly something that is pretty remarkable when it comes to a person's life.
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How many people do you want to follow you, and to follow your example? Think about that. Do you want people to be just like you?
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Remember when Steve Cooley came here, candidating for associate pastor and continue to pray for him, and the whole situation that mattered there.
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Do you remember what he said? He said when he went to seminary, he did not want to be like John MacArthur.
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He didn't want to be like some of the other notable speakers. He wanted to be like Mike Abendroth.
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He wanted to be able to do what Mike... He'd watch Mike Abendroth, our pastor in the Bible studies, teaching and ministering and helping people.
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He said, I want to be able to do that. And so off to school he went, because as Mike Abendroth was following Christ, Steve Cooley was following Mike Abendroth, and in so doing, he's following Christ.
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And then, and even now, today there are people who are following Steve Cooley, because he's a good example.
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And are we that way? I wonder if we've ever considered that in our lives, that we are discipling or teaching other people with the things that we say and the things that we do and the places that we go and everything there is about our lives.
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Paul was this way. I love this in verse 12. I said
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I'd get back to it. In verse 12 he says, I am instructed both how to be full and to be hungry, to abound and to suffer need.
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In the New American I said it, I believe it's translated, I have learned the secret. In the
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Greek, the word is mueo, and it means it has something to do with or of an initiation.
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That's what it means. I've been initiated. That's what he's saying. I've learned the secret.
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I got to thinking about this before preaching this message this week, and I was thinking about that there are certain clubs, there are certain organizations.
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You may know about them. Not all good, but you know about these organizations where there are certain rituals and ceremonies that you have to go through before you can get in.
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You've got to be initiated in. There are certain phrases you must memorize, certain passwords, certain handshakes, rings for your fingers, and things like this.
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There's a lot of different clubs like this to where once you go through the initiation, you're accepted in.
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You're part of the fellowship. You've learned that and you've gone through the initiation and now you can benefit from the fellowship of that club.
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Now Paul is saying and using that type of terminology here in a good way. He's saying there is a club to be initiated into, and it's the club of the contented ones.
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And we are to be initiated into it. And the way that we're initiated into it, he says, I've learned it through the experiences that God has brought into my life who's never made any mistakes.
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And He's teaching me through these experiences and I've learned the secret. That's what he said. I've learned the mystery of what it means to be content.
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And to learn the mystery, to be instructed to learn the secret is it has nothing to do with the things around me.
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It has nothing to do with my circumstances. It has nothing to do with what I have or don't have, whether things are good or bad around me.
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But it has everything to do with my relationship to Christ. As we're going to see in verse 13, it has everything to do with my vital union with Him.
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I'm in Christ. Take everything else away. I'm still in Christ. He's never going to leave me nor forsake me.
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I'm in Christ. I can be content because I have Him and He has me. We'll touch on that when we finish up in verse 13.
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He's been initiated. He's learned the secret, the great mystery, Christ in you, the hope of glory.
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He had learned by a means of a process. Paul was committed to grow spiritually, as I've said.
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He had not just gone through the things that he had gone through. You see, if you just go through them, the trials, if you just go through a suffering.
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You see, read the book of 1 Peter. God does not bring anything in our lives that's difficult, trying the flames.
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They don't come in our lives for no reason. God uses those to test the genuineness of our faith.
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So that when we come out of it, we come out purer. We come out stronger. We come out closer to the
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Lord, more dependent upon the Lord. But if we just go through something difficult and we don't learn the lesson that we ought to learn that God would have for us, and I believe that many times, the lesson that the
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Lord is teaching us through that is, will you be content with what I am doing in your life?
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Will you be content? Learning the lesson of contentment. And Paul, as he went through the ups and the downs of life, in these extremes, he had learned to be content.
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In them. And it's so important to be aware that God is teaching us in every situation, in every trial.
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Brethren, if we don't get that, and I've said this to other folks and I know it myself by experiencing it myself, if we don't learn the lesson the first time, there's a good possibility that the same thing will happen to us until we learn the lesson that God would have for us.
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So it's good for us to be aware in the middle of a situation like Paul said, as he was going through things, he's committed to spiritual growth, and he wants to learn what it is to be more godly, what it is to be more like Christ, to be more conformed to the image of Christ, and to be content with everything that God is bringing his way.
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He learned it as he was going through it. Consider this. Where is Paul at the time that these words are being written?
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He is in prison. And most likely, he's got somebody chained on his left side and somebody on his right side.
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He has no liberty to do whatever, to come and go as he pleases. He is without.
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That is why he needed these gifts, this supply from other people, these love, benevolent gifts that were coming to him.
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And yet, in the prison, he even learned to be content. Now we saw this, and the Philippians absolutely knew about this, because if you ever read
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Acts chapter 16, when Paul and Silas go into Philippi, and they preach the gospel, and the cellar of purple,
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Lydia, her heart is open, God saves her, the folks that are having the Bible study, they're seeking God, and Paul comes with the gospel, and they're saved, and the church is begun at Philippi.
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Paul and Silas are arrested because of what they're doing. They're taken by the leaders and told to be thrown into the prison.
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Way into the prison. Feet. Their feet are clasped in the stalks.
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They're beaten. And usually when they were beaten, they were severely beaten. I don't know if you've ever seen
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Horatio Hornblower. Kind of an example of the flesh being ripped off the back.
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39 stripes. That's what he's talking about. 2 Corinthians 11, you can read in there how many times
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Paul received those types of stripes. That whipping. Feet in the stalks. I mean, you would think, here is a time of the most greatest difficulty, and you know,
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Paul and Silas, they have a right to just kind of be quiet, and just kind of stoically, pessimistically, just, you know, grin and bear it.
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No. Acts 16 .25, it says that they prayed, and they were singing praises to God.
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Why? Because they were content with where they were. Paul had learned it through experiences like that to be content in the situations that he was going through.
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Because he had learned it, he had come to a place where he knew how to be a content person in the middle of extreme circumstances.
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And notice another thing that kind of gives us hope here. It says Paul had learned it. That means there was a time when
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Paul did not have, like here he is now in his life, with this lesson of contentment learned, and he's growing in that lesson, there was a time when it wasn't that deep.
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There was a time when he hadn't learned that. It was a progress. And that's the hope for all of us here, that we can learn it too.
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That we can go through these circumstances that God gives us, we can consider the Word of God as we meditate upon the
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Lord's goodness and His providence, and we too can learn contentment. This means that we do not develop these godly habits overnight.
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And contentment is a godly habit, I believe. 1 Timothy 6, and in verse 6 it says, The older Paul instructs the younger
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Timothy. He says, Godliness with contentment is great gain. This is valuable.
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This is the thing that we should be wanting and desiring in our lives. Godly habits come as a result of seeking the
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Lord, focusing upon Him, that we, as I said earlier, are in Christ. And studying
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God's Word and applying biblical principles to every circumstance we encounter. It is learning to act in a biblical way no matter what comes our way, rather than let the circumstances push us along.
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Consider it for a moment with me, in a practical way. What goes through your mind, or what do you say to other people, or what do you say inside your head?
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You know how we talk like that when we're going through something? What do you say when we have gone without? Or when we are suffering?
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When we don't have the money? Or when we don't have what the Joneses have? Or when things are difficult?
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Do we grumble? Or are we humble and willing to learn contentment? Do we rest in the
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Lord's providence and wait on the Lord? Or do we take it upon ourselves to make it happen?
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Maybe putting ourselves even further into debt, or getting more and more discouraged.
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Do we see it as a learning experience? Or do we see it as an inconvenience in our life?
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God is restrictive in our lives, and it's just not going the way that we want. We need to act in our lives rather than simply just react and be blown about like a tumbleweed.
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We must take steps towards spiritual growth, and if not, we will be so unstable and discontent as we are manipulated by our circumstances, which should not be manipulating us.
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We must read God's Word for ourselves, and learn the biblical principles, and apply the truth to every part of our lives, and maybe get a hold of one of those verses like Hebrews 13 .5.
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Let your conversation be without covetousness. Memorize it and meditate upon it, and be content with such things as you have.
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Be content like where I am. For He has said, that's good.
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I can think and chew on that through the day. That will help me. It's a means of contentment.
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As we go through the Word, which is able to build us up in the faith, we will not only be assured of the first point, of having confidence in God's providence, so that our physical needs are being met as God wants to meet them, but secondly, as I brought out, that God is ordering all things and working our spiritual development.
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Do you remember chapter 1? God is working. He's working in our lives. Chapter 1, verse 6,
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Paul wrote to this church in Philippians 1 .6, being confident of this very thing, that He which has begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.
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God is going to work on us until Christ comes. Do you remember chapter 2? And in verse 12,
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Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.
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Our responsibility, but notice 2 .13, For it is God which worketh in you, both to will and to do of His good pleasure.
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God is working upon us. And whereas Peter wrote to grow in what? The grace and the knowledge of the
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Lord. Be those that are pressing on in this pursuit. Applying God's truth in our lives.
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I could give you an example of this, maybe that will be like the rubber meeting the road. Here for those of us who work, really all of us work, but in different capacities, maybe a wife at home, children in school, those of you that have a job.
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We can find true contentment in our work, if we faithfully apply biblical principles to our circumstances.
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And by that I mean, you may not like your job. You may not like where you are.
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You may not like the work environment. The pay scale is low. The boss is an ogre.
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And there's ungodliness all around you. But you will never find contentment, even if all those things are right, and good.
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Did you get that? Things will never satisfy. Things are not the basis for contentment.
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The source of our contentment is being in Christ. We're going to see that as I conclude.
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Your contentment and my contentment comes from the fact that we know the Lord, and better yet, that He knows us.
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And that we are in Christ, and we're in the family of God. And that we're servants of the living
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God, and God puts us exactly where He wants us. And your job is, some folks think, well,
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I just love to be like a full -time pastor, a full -time missionary.
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I just want to let you know, you are full -time. You're full -time servants of Jesus Christ, because Colossians 3, 23 and 24 says,
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And whatsoever you do, do it heartily as to the Lord, and not unto men, knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward, for you serve the
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Lord Christ. We're servants of the living God. And we do it full -time. And the place where God has you on your job is your high calling.
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It's a high and holy vocation where God has you. And as soon as you begin to look at your job that way, or the place that you're at that way, it will help you to be more content.
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It will help you rest in the fact that God has you exactly where He wants you to be. You're serving
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Him there. If we could think this way, then we will learn to be content. We don't try to change the boss.
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We don't try to manipulate things so that promotionally wise or whatever, we can have a better salary.
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Do you remember the Roman soldiers came to Jesus and they asked Him a question? And one of the things He said to them was what? Be content with your wages.
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That's what He said to them. And we need to be content with our wages and be content where God has us.
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We don't need to tell everybody else in the place to shape up or I'm shipping out. What we need to do is submit ourselves to the
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Lord in the place where we are and faithfully serve Him there, understanding that God knows that this is the place that He wants us to be and that will give us contentment.
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So wherever you are, fulfill your duty as mothers and fathers and children and teachers and keepers at home, students, policemen, laborers, nurses, mechanics, sales folks, analysts, and so on for the glory of Christ.
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Paul learned to be content no matter what way the wind blew, no matter what his circumstances were, whether there was a shipwreck and he's in the middle of the sea floating around wondering if he's going to live or die, or whether he's secure on land, whether he was feeling the whip or feeling the gracious hand of his loving
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Father, whether he was under a pile of rocks because he had just been stoned at Lystra, or he was feasting at a table because God had taken care of his every need, whether he was persecuted or loved, whether he was in prison or at liberty, suffering or he was blessed, in pain or sorrow or full of joy, empty or full, fed or hungry.
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Paul said, I've been led into the secret of what true contentment is. I've learned to be self -sufficient, to live independently of these things.
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Our contentment is going to come as we learn to seek and see in all these things
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Christ. And that leads me to my third and last point. We have seen earlier that a confidence in God's providence is a means of contentment.
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Secondly, a commitment to spiritual growth is a means of contentment. And third, lastly, and this one point is shorter for those of you that are worrying about the time, an awareness of our connection to Christ.
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And I've already touched on this. This is verse 13. If we would have an awareness or learn that we are in vital union with Christ, Paul says there,
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I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me. But what Paul is saying is, I am able to face all of the circumstances of life because He infuses me with His strength.
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I am able, as I said earlier in the message, Paul says I am able because of my connection to the
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Enabler. I am sufficient within myself because as a believer, and I'm not talking about not depending upon the
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Lord, but the self -sufficiency came from within, not from without. And it comes from within because of the joy that he has because of the relationship, the connection that he has with Christ.
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As a believer, I am connected to the sufficient One, Jesus Christ, the
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One who is always strengthening me. In the Greek there, it kind of goes this way, I am able because of the
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One who infuses me with His strength. That's what it means. We must look to the
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Lord alone for our pleasure and satisfaction. I remember the true story,
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I believe, of a quadriplegic, Joni Erickson Potter.
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I read just last year that she struggled with her condition of being paralyzed until she read one of the
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Puritans, and somebody here probably knows who it was, but she read one of the Puritans and it spoke of the first point, which
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Providence got was the sovereignty of God. She learned that God makes no mistakes and that she could fully trust in Him and she was content in the place that she was at.
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That's power in a person's life, isn't it? The grace of God teaching us what? To learn to be content.
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Remember Paul's life verse in chapter 1 of Philippians, for me to live is what? Circumstances?
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For me to live is to preach. Is that what Paul said? No. For me to live is to go on that missionary journey.
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I just can't wait. No. For me to live is Christ. To die is gain.
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Paul always ends every argument, every logic and reasoning as he's working through the arguments and every discussion, he always ends it in Christ, with Christ.
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Jesus is the explanation for Paul's life and Jesus Christ should be the explanation for our life.
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We ask sometimes when someone comes to, or you may ask the question that I just did this week, I asked somebody, what makes you tick?
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What is it that burns within you? What is it that, if everything else is stripped away, is just so important to you?
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And it's good to talk about all the other things that we do, but ultimately, when it's all boiled down, when we really examine it, it is because I'm found in Christ.
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I am His and He's mine. I'm so thankful. He saved me and I'm one of His. And I'm forgiven. And I'm going to heaven one day, not based upon my merit, but on the merit of Christ.
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I'm justified freely of all my sins, past, present and future, because Jesus Christ hung on the cross for me on my behalf.
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And He was buried for me and He rose again for my justification. And I'm complete in Him. And it's
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Christ. Paul does this in his writing. Jesus is completely sufficient to meet
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His circumstances and to give Him contentment. Martin Lloyd -Jones put it this way. He said,
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Paul's victory was based upon his association with Christ. To be a
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Christian is not only, and listen to this carefully, to be a Christian is not only to believe
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Jesus' teachings and to practice them in our lives. It is to be so vitally related to Christ that His life and His power are working in us.
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Did you get that? So vitally related to Christ that His power and His life is working in us.
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His hand is strong on our behalf. Complete in Christ.
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Let me finish by asking you this, putting us in this situation.
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I want you just to think for me a moment as we close. What is it that you now think gives you contentment?
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Now as a lost person I said, if you're outside of Christ, you will never be content. You will never be satisfied.
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Things of this world will give you temporary counterfeit, but not secure and lasting hope.
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That is only found in Christ. And I beg you, as the Apostle Paul said, beg you to come to Christ.
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To call upon His name and see that He is a gracious Savior who is ready to forgive.
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Having been your substitute hanging on the cross on your behalf, and you can call upon Him and He will save you.
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And you will understand what it means to begin to walk in the way of the Lord, or to walk with God and to be a disciple of Christ and learn this lesson that we've brought out this morning.
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But those of you that are desiring to be initiated, to learn the secret, to enter into this mystery.
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Those of you that are desiring it, what is it that you're now thinking about that brings you contentment?
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Some of you, and I know that some of you are struggling with this because it might be because of your job.
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I mean, that brings you fulfillment. It might be the house and all that you can do with it inside and out.
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It could be your spouse. And I'm not saying these are bad things, but we can get our priorities wrong. It could be your family.
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It could be your children and all that you can do to serve them. It might be Bethlehem Bible Church that is bringing you contentment.
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It might be your ministry that brings you contentment. It ought to, but just bear me out.
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It might be your health. Exercising. Pumping iron. Doing it all.
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You know, I can run 10 miles a day. Whatever it is. It might be even reading about Christ.
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It might be picking up one of these microphones and singing for Christ or playing an instrument for Christ.
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But I want to warn you here is that a day might come where those things can be taken away from you and me.
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What if we're blind and we cannot read? What if we lose our vocal cords and we cannot sing?
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What if we lose our legs and we cannot walk? What if some foreign country comes in and invades our country and we no longer can have church or go to church?
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And we're looking forward to that every weekend, but it's all taken away from us. And I'm asking you, if the thing that brings you contentment right now is stripped away from you and me, would we still be happy?
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Would we still be satisfied? Would we still be content because we are so closely connected to Jesus Christ that His power and His strength is infused into us day by day?
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Take it all away. Whatever it is. Whatever it is that you enjoy to do and just keeps you going every day.
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And I'm not saying that it's going to happen. Enjoy it while you have it, but think about this and think soberly. What if it's taken away?
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Do I have this union with Christ? Do I know that He is mine and I am
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His? And if you do, then you have been initiated. You've entered into a bit and we are going to continue to learn more and more of what it is to learn contentment.
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I encourage you to come back this evening for part two. If anything has been profitable for you this morning, come back for part two tonight where we will learn something of the fruit of contentment.