Contentment Understood.

Steve Gentry

[0:00] If this is your first time or you’re new here, welcome to the village. [0:05] My name is Steve. [0:05] I’m one of the pastors here. [0:07] If you have your Bibles, go ahead and open them to Philippians chapter 4. [0:11] Philippians chapter 4, we’re going to be jumping all over the place this morning, but the [0:17] main source of what we’re going to be talking about is in Philippians chapter 4.

[0:21] For the past two weeks, if you’ve not been here for that, we’ve been talking about discontentment [0:27] and kind of how do we span the spectrum between the two of these? [0:34] That many of us live discontented lives believing that if only we could reach this milestone [0:41] or if only we could attain this possession or this person or this job, then we will be [0:48] really happy only to find that once we get that thing, we just want something else or [0:55] that thing isn’t what we thought it was going to be in the first place.

[0:57] Then last week we talked a little bit about what does it look like to have ungodly contentment? [1:02] The type of contentment where we feel that everything is okay, but our lives don’t measure [1:07] up to what God has spelled out for us in Scripture, the commands that He has made towards us, [1:12] the mission that He’s given those of us who call Him our King and our God to tell the [1:19] world about the Gospel. [1:20] What if our life doesn’t measure up with that yet?

[1:23] We’re content. [1:25] The Bible calls us into great repentance where that is concerned. [1:28] This week what I want to talk to you about, because we’ve been doing a lot of deconstruction [1:32] the past two weeks, and that’s typically easy. [1:34] I don’t know if you have been with us on the project for our new building, but if you were [1:38] there the day that we deconstructed, that was easy and it was actually a lot of fun

[1:43] except for those that got hit in the head with boards or stepped on nails. [1:46] That was fun. [1:48] Once we actually started to reconstruct, we started to find that it was a little more [1:52] difficult to make things look right or to do it the right way. [1:55] It was a little more difficult to actually make things work. [1:58] Rebuilding is always harder.

[2:01] Therefore, when we’re talking about how to live the Christian life, it’s a lot easier [2:05] to talk about what we shouldn’t do than what we should, because we’re afraid of failure. [2:12] We’re afraid that we won’t do it right. [2:14] We’re afraid that we won’t measure up. [2:17] We’re afraid that we’re not good enough or maybe our faith isn’t strong enough. [2:22] But when we’re talking about contentment, that’s exactly what we’re talking about.

[2:26] We’re talking about the reality that God has given us a life that we’re to live. [2:32] He’s revealed Himself in Scripture, but He’s also revealed to us a lifestyle that we’re [2:39] to live. [2:40] Sometimes, that’s really difficult in our culture. [2:43] Because in our culture, when we talk about contentment, we’re more or less talking about [2:48] a peak or a plateau that we’re trying to get to.

[2:52] And once we reach that, we kind of think that the work is over. [2:57] It’s like in the great theological film Office Space, where he gets into this trance and [3:05] he just doesn’t show up for work and he comes the next day and one of his co-workers is [3:09] saying, what in the world? [3:11] How everybody’s looking for you. [3:12] You weren’t here.

[3:13] And he looks at his friend Michael Bolton and he says,

[3:23] That’s how we look at contentment. [3:25] It’s more of a lack of responsibility, a lack of stress, than it is the presence of a mission, [3:31] the presence of a purpose. [3:33] So sometimes when we talk about living life biblically, living the mission of Jesus, [3:38] we have a very difficult time because our idea of contentment is a lack of these things. [3:43] And when we talk about contentment from Scripture, we’re talking about the presence of even more

[3:47] things than we have right now. [3:49] And so we get burdened and so we kind of just shrink back. [3:54] But whenever you look at Scripture, every person that finds biblical contentment, you [4:01] find a certain standard that they all have and that is that they haven’t stopped working. [4:09] They’ve actually started a new work and they’re moving forward. [4:14] And for a lot of them, they’re working harder than they ever have before.

[4:19] But yet in Philippians chapter 4 verse 11, we find this guy named the apostle Paul. [4:25] And in this text, he tells us that he has found in any situation in his life how to [4:34] be content. [4:37] That’s an interesting thing because if you look at the life of Paul compared to our standards [4:41] of what real contentment looks like, this is a guy who lost his job, lost all of his [4:48] friends.

[4:49] Some scholars think he even lost his family. [4:52] He is basically a day laborer after experiencing riches. [4:56] He’s in poverty. [4:59] He’s wanted by the authorities. [5:01] In every relationship that he had in his past, they all hate him. [5:05] And some of them have even tried to kill him.

[5:08] And when he says this great phrase that I found in any situation in my life how to be [5:12] content, he’s imprisoned. [5:15] And he would actually spend the rest of his life in that imprisonment before he’s executed [5:22] for the thing that he said he found contentment in. [5:26] So by the standards of our culture and maybe some of us, the contentment that Paul had, [5:31] if this is a guy that we’re looking at and he looks at me and he says, I’ve found how

[5:36] to be content, we’d probably look at him and say, yeah, right, you bum. [5:40] You have no idea what you’re talking about. [5:44] But what I want us to do is because we’re sometimes in our life, if we’re dealing with [5:48] this contentment, we’re very quick to throw out that text in Philippians. [5:51] We’re very quick to throw out the text that says, I’ve found how to be content in any [5:54] situation.

[5:56] But what I want to look at today is really the story of how Paul got there, where he’s [6:02] saying how to be content. [6:04] Because I think that’s the part that we don’t really look at. [6:06] We just think magically, if we sprinkle the magic dust of the words of scripture on it, [6:11] everything will be okay. [6:13] But the reality is that behind all of these texts, there’s always a story.

[6:18] And that’s what I kind of want to unfold with the apostle Paul this morning, is I want to [6:22] look at how exactly he does this. [6:25] Well, the first thing you’ve got to understand about contentment is that it comes from living [6:29] as you were created to live. [6:33] That’s the number one thing that Paul really points out throughout his entire life, is [6:37] that he’s living as he was created to live.

[6:39] And the first thing that he finds is that he was created to know God.

[6:45] Paul in Philippians chapter 3, just one chapter previous, he writes this.

[6:52] He says,

[7:16] And here’s what Paul is telling us in these first few texts. [7:20] In the culture that he lived in, he had reached every height that he could have reached of [7:27] success. [7:29] All right? [7:29] He was from Israel. [7:31] He was a Jew.

[7:32] So he was circumcised on the eighth day. [7:34] That means he was in line. [7:35] And his parents put him on the right path to success in a religious culture. [7:42] He then became a Pharisee. [7:44] The Pharisees were the people in that culture who enforced the laws of the Old Testament. [7:49] And then along the pathway, they made up a lot more so that life would be even harder,

[7:54] so that they could judge people even harsher. [7:57] And so he was the Pharisee of Pharisees. [8:01] He had reached a height in Phariseeical living where he was actually the boss of other Pharisees [8:06] and he controlled the entire region that he was in charge of or that he was in. [8:11] Then it says he had great zeal. [8:14] In other words, he loved it.

[8:17] He had a measure of what he thought contentment should be. [8:22] So much so that when Jesus had come, when Jesus died, rose from the dead and the church [8:27] began to grow, that they called the way at that point, he actually began to persecute Christians. [8:34] It says in the book of Acts that when Stephen, a deacon of the church, was stoned to death, [8:40] it says that Paul was there and he looked on it and it gave him great joy to watch that execution.

[8:49] And so when we’re dealing with a person like the apostle Paul, in our culture, [8:53] it is as if he was a successful businessman and he was a CEO of a Fortune 500 company [8:59] in the culture that he was in. [9:02] He was the man in Israel.

[9:06] But then he says that I counted it all loss for the sake of Christ. [9:14] And he continues. [9:16] He says I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord. [9:27] For His sake, I suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish. [9:33] I count them as a pile of dung. [9:35] That’s what the literal word there means.

[9:38] And I’ll go no further than that.

[9:42] And then he writes, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, [9:47] not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, [9:50] but that which comes from faith in Christ, the righteousness from God, that depends on faith.

[9:59] Paul writes, look, if there is a way by the hands of a human being to find contentment, [10:06] I would have found it. [10:10] But he said the reality is, is that I couldn’t find it because contentment cannot be found by the hands of man. [10:21] I had to realize, number one, that there is a God and that God wants to be known, [10:27] and that because of my sin, I could not find Him. [10:30] But he himself stepped down, became a human, died on the cross, and said,

[10:36] if you’ll trust, you’ll know me. [10:40] You’ll know me. [10:42] That’s what he says. He says, everything else is nothing because there’s a God, [10:48] and if I was created to know Him, then nothing on this earth can compare to that. [10:55] Because everything else is just me trying to create a small God that I can find pleasure in. [11:02] I can’t find it.

[11:05] Paul was created to know God, and he found that the only way to do that [11:09] was through the person and work of the man, Jesus Christ, who actually was God, become flesh. [11:15] That’s what this season is all about.

[11:19] It’s about the reality that God is not some unknown disconnected being, [11:25] but He’s so connected that He wants to be intimately involved in our lives [11:30] to the point where He stepped down from the greatest comfort that any being has ever known, [11:37] and that is the eternal joy of being God on the throne, and He became a human being.

[11:46] Paul looks at that, and he comes face to face with it, and he says it’s true. [11:51] And if it’s true, that’s what I was meant to live for. [11:56] He was created to know God, but He was also created to trust in God. [12:02] He was created to trust in what God had said life was meant to be lived for. [12:09] He was created to trust that when God revealed Himself through the Word, [12:15] that it was not leading to something that I was going to make,

[12:19] but rather it was leading to something that He was going to do. [12:22] This is one completely connected story. [12:26] This is not a collection of disconnected writings. [12:30] Instead, the scripture is this book that from Genesis to Revelation [12:33] unfolds the story of man sinning and rebelling against God, [12:39] and God in His love redeeming humanity through His own work, not ours.

[12:46] And then when He sends Jesus, He sends Jesus to die and experience the punishment [12:51] that we deserve for rebelling against God, and to trust in that completely, [12:57] and that nothing else is ever going to save us. [13:00] Nothing else is ever going to make me contented. [13:04] Nothing else by my hands will ever get me to the life that I need.

[13:13] It’s just trusting in Jesus. That’s it.

[13:19] And Paul found that. He said, I must spend the rest of my life following it.

[13:26] He was created also to follow God.

[13:33] Have you ever been in a pool in the summertime, and your child has the floaties on, [13:42] and dads, we really do this because we want to be the he-man. [13:46] We get our children to stand on the side of the pool, and we say, [13:50] jump to me, I will catch you, jump to me, I will catch you, jump to me, [13:53] I will catch you. [13:55] And after about 45 minutes of negotiating, this was me last summer,

[14:01] my son finally jumped into my arms.

[14:07] And then he did it about 100 more times. [14:10] And then the next day I was sore.

[14:14] The reality is, is what I was asking my son to do, I was asking him to trust me.

[14:18] I was saying, son, trust me. Trust me. [14:21] Now, if he had said, in two years’ speak, I trust you,

[14:27] and then gone and gone down the steps, I wouldn’t have believed him. [14:32] I would have said, man, I’ve got to get my son to trust me. [14:36] But oftentimes in our relationship with God, if we’re trying to find him, [14:39] if we’re trying to seek him, we say we trust him, but we won’t jump into his arms.

[14:47] Our trust rarely follows into an action of actually following him. [14:55] We say, I trust you, God, but I got this. [15:00] Because I’ve got to be in control of my life. [15:02] I’ve got to be able to see the way everything’s working out. [15:04] I’ve got to have a 100% visible guarantee.

[15:10] And we never make that jump into his arms.

[15:14] It’s an interesting thing I watched with my son’s eyes after he did jump into my arms. [15:17] It was just like the greatest thing he’d ever experienced in his life, [15:20] the ability to jump and not die.

[15:25] Little did he know he had floaties on him, he didn’t even.

[15:28] Here’s the thing that we miss out with God. [15:32] We want to know him. [15:34] I trust him.

[15:38] But the reason we never find that contentment and joy is because that’s where we stop. [15:45] We stop at that verbal, I trust you, God.

[15:51] But we still refuse to take that jump right into his arms and actually follow him where he’s going.

[16:00] We were created to follow God and that is what Paul did.

[16:07] In the book of Acts chapter 20, we find Paul heading towards the place where he writes the book of Philippians. [16:16] And he’s at a church that he started, and that church is Ephesus, and they really want him to stay there. [16:22] Paul says, I’ve been called to go take the gospel further. [16:26] And the Holy Spirit’s actually revealed it to me. [16:28] Here’s what he says, because they’re like, don’t go. [16:32] But Paul went down and bent over him, the man that was saying, don’t go.

[16:38] That’s not the text.

[16:42] All right, that’s not the text. [16:44] Take that down. [16:46] That’s my bad. [16:47] Here’s what happens when Paul is saying that, if I can remember it correctly. [16:52] Paul says, they’re coming to him, and he actually literally says, the Holy Spirit has revealed to me that I have to go to Jerusalem to further the gospel. [17:02] I don’t know, nor do I have certainty, as to how it’s actually going to turn out for me.

[17:11] But I know that this is how God wants to spread the gospel. [17:16] So I must go, because I trust him. [17:21] That’s the Steve International version.

[17:27] Because I trust him.

[17:31] And the church looks at him and says, I don’t think you should go. [17:36] But here’s the reality of how oftentimes we follow God.

[17:40] We don’t know how a situation’s going to turn out. [17:45] We don’t have absolute certainty as to what God is going to do. [17:49] We’ve seen it in Scripture. [17:50] We’ve experienced his promptings in prayer. [17:53] We know the path that he has for us. [17:55] We know that this is what God wants me to do.

[17:58] But because we don’t know how it’s going to turn out.

[18:04] We don’t do it.

[18:07] We don’t follow through.

[18:10] Not knowing how God is going to make the situation turn out is never an excuse not to obey God. [18:19] And Paul is a living example of that.

[18:26] Paul knows that he’s got to follow God because he trusts him.

[18:33] Trusting God is not knowing that the circumstances will turn out for your comfort. [18:38] Trusting God is knowing that the circumstances will turn out for his glory.

[18:44] What Paul finds after he goes to Jerusalem is the reality that knowing God is better than everything else. [18:57] So secondly this morning I want you to understand that contentment comes from a heart of thankfulness. [19:02] Comes from a heart of thankfulness. [19:05] I want you to go to Philippians chapter 4 now. [19:09] Philippians 4 starting in verse 9. [19:11] I want to very quickly unpack starting in verse 4.

[19:14] Excuse me. [19:15] I want to very quickly unpack five verses with you. [19:19] Paul says in verse 4. [19:21] Rejoice in the Lord always. [19:23] Again I will say rejoice.

[19:28] Look at that. [19:30] Whenever anybody in scripture says things twice and this is what he says twice. [19:34] This is the word rejoice twice. [19:36] It is for especially in the writings of Paul. [19:38] It is for a more further punch right at you. [19:45] Elsewhere in scripture Paul says that the will of God in Christ Jesus is for you to be thankful.

[19:51] Because that is where following God really starts. [19:53] There is this great connection between trust and thankfulness. [19:57] How thankful do you think my son was when I caught him?

[20:01] He was very thankful.

[20:04] When you find out that the one that you are trusting can be actually trusted with that trustfulness.

[20:12] You are thankful. [20:13] Because they didn’t disappoint you. [20:16] And so Paul is saying that we need to take joy in the reality of redemption. [20:23] Often times we look at God and because he doesn’t relieve a difficult situation. [20:29] Because he doesn’t just take us completely out of suffering. [20:32] We say maybe he is not good.

[20:35] But the reality is that his goodness is not necessarily seen in the relief of our suffering. [20:41] But it is seen in the reality that God puts himself in our shoes of suffering to be with us. [20:50] Tim Keller writes that we know that God loves us because he put himself into the deepest depths of suffering that anyone has ever known.

[21:01] We actually have a God that loves us to the point where he takes our suffering for us. [21:11] And he does that on the cross. [21:13] And Paul says, Rejoice in him!

[21:19] Be thankful for him.

[21:23] The peace that that thankfulness flows from then comes from trusting in his sovereign will.

[21:34] In verse 5 he says, Let your reasonableness be made known to everyone. [21:39] Another translation of that term reasonableness can be gentleness.

[21:44] Which flows into, the Lord is at hand and he says, Do not be anxious about anything. [21:48] But in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving. [21:53] Let your requests be known to God. [21:56] There is a trust in his absolute sovereignty.

[22:01] That is to guide us in these situations. [22:05] That peace is not found in the reality that I am never going to suffer again. [22:11] Peace is found in trusting God with that suffering.

[22:15] When Paul writes this in imprisonment, he writes this because he wants us to know that the one who is in control of the entire universe. [22:25] Is intimately connected and concerned with his life. [22:30] Therefore the wisest thing he can do in any situation is to stay true to what God has unfolded in scripture. [22:38] Everything else is the illusion of control.

[22:43] The safest thing that Paul could have done with his life is to have stayed in Ephesus.

[22:51] He had it good there.

[22:53] He was comfortable. [22:55] Much of that region had been won to Christ. [22:59] As really an outlet of what Paul had done.

[23:04] If he stays there, he is safe. [23:08] But Paul knows that safety is not necessarily God’s blessing.

[23:16] True safety is only found in going where God wants you to go. [23:23] Because if God wants you to go there, he is in absolute control.

[23:30] In another area of the book of Acts, Paul is heading into Corinth. [23:34] A place he has never been. [23:37] He is about to face some tough trials for spreading the gospel. [23:41] The scripture says that God through the spirit comes to him and says, don’t be afraid. [23:49] Because I have people in that city that are mine. [23:52] And I will be with you there.

[23:58] Paul has no guarantee of safety. [24:02] But he has guarantee of God’s presence.

[24:06] And here is the reason. [24:07] You may live your entire life completely safe. [24:12] You can lock yourself in your house. [24:15] You can take every vitamin known to man. [24:19] You can be as healthy as it gets. [24:23] And then die at a very high rate.

[24:23] At a very old age. [24:26] Never having exhibited real trust in God.

[24:31] And then head into eternity.

[24:34] Where you meet him face to face.

[24:40] Then the question is, did you ever really trust him?

[24:45] And if you never lived a life where you trusted him, did you have faith in him? [24:50] And so Paul says, better to die living his mission. [24:55] Showing that I trust him. [24:56] Showing that I have faith in him. [24:58] Than living to a very ripe old age. [25:01] And never known God in the first place.

[25:04] Because if you don’t follow him, you can’t possibly know him. [25:08] Because to know him is to know that he is good.

[25:13] And so Paul says, there is no real anxiety. [25:19] In following God. [25:21] Because one thing I know is that the resurrection of Jesus Christ shows that this guy has got some control over this universe.

[25:28] Because people don’t typically rise from the dead. [25:31] And when they do, you can trust them. [25:34] Unless they are zombies.

[25:41] Verse 7, he says, in the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding. [25:47] You ever read that and said, what in the world, if I can’t understand it, how can it be peace? [25:53] Here’s what Paul is saying here. [25:55] He is saying that there is a peace with God that surpasses human understanding. [26:00] Because its anchor is not in this world.

[26:04] Its anchor is from God’s point of view. [26:08] So when you have the peace that comes from God, it’s not going to look like peace of someone that doesn’t know God. [26:16] And see, that’s some of our problems sometimes. [26:19] Sometimes we want our peace to be anchored in this world, in this life. [26:23] Everything is going to be okay. [26:25] I’m never going to hurt.

[26:26] I’m never going to have a tough conversation with anyone. [26:28] I’m never going to have to actually exhibit my faith. [26:31] That’s the peace I’m looking for. [26:33] And God says, that’s not the peace that I have to offer. [26:35] Because the peace that I have to offer is above this world. [26:38] It’s in his kingdom.

[26:39] It’s where he is. [26:40] Because he can see the past and the future. [26:42] He sees everything. [26:43] It’s all the same to him. [26:45] He’s in control. [26:46] Every breath that I have is because he’s giving it to me.

[26:49] Every time my heart beats, it’s because he’s making it beat. [26:52] He’s in control. [26:54] Therefore, my peace, if it’s anchored with him, it passes all human understanding. [27:00] Because human understanding has the barrier of sin.

[27:05] And sometime in our life, we’ll go up to the point with our faith. [27:10] Where it stops conflicting with life on this world. [27:15] But we won’t pass over. [27:18] Therefore, we will never experience the peace that Paul had. [27:21] You can quote that verse over and over and over and over again. [27:24] But if you’re not following God, you will never have it.

[27:29] You will never have the peace that Paul had. [27:33] Because our peace, my peace, sometimes I had strep throat two weeks ago. [27:37] My peace was out the window. [27:39] I was like, man, this is the worst thing that’s ever happened. [27:42] I’m dying. [27:43] Call a hospital. I need surgery.

[27:45] They just need to remove everything and put new stuff in.

[27:49] Maybe you’re a little tougher than I am. [27:50] Maybe your faith has a little more perseverance than mine. [27:53] But you know what the problem is, is that sometimes my peace is anchored in this life. [27:58] And God says, you’ve got to get over that, bro. [28:00] This world’s tainted with sin. [28:01] And I’m going to do something that’s going to restore it.

[28:03] And it’s going to be so much better if you’ll just trust me. [28:06] And follow me above that.

[28:09] Let’s keep going.

[28:13] He says, finally, brothers.

[28:16] Whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, [28:19] whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, [28:21] if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, [28:24] think about these things. [28:26] And look at this. [28:28] What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me,

[28:32] practice these things and the God of peace will be with you. [28:35] That is an audacious statement. [28:37] He says, whatever you’ve seen in me, practice these things. [28:39] You want to know why that’s so audacious? [28:40] He’s in jail.

[28:44] The reality is, if they practice what Paul is saying, [28:47] they might end up there too.

[28:51] And here’s what Paul’s saying.

[28:54] He’s saying, you need to change the way that you think. [28:59] I had a professor one time that called it stinking thinking.

[29:05] We want to come to church. [29:06] We want to worship God. [29:07] We want to be involved in what he’s doing. [29:10] But then our thought processes are totally elsewhere. [29:13] They’re totally of something else. [29:14] As soon as you walk out this door,

[29:16] you’re going to have spiritual bulimia by the time you get to lunch, [29:19] which means you’ve kind of taken in some truth. [29:22] And then by the time you got to lunch, you’ll spit that out. [29:23] And you’ll be thinking about tomorrow morning at work. [29:25] And you’ll be thinking about what’s going on in your life. [29:27] And you’ll be overcome by the stresses, the anxieties.

[29:31] My kids aren’t doing great. [29:32] I’m not doing great in school. [29:33] I don’t know if my spouse loves me. [29:35] My parents, I’m on the outs with them. [29:38] Oh my goodness, everything’s falling apart. [29:39] They’re downsizing at my company.

[29:42] My cable’s on the fritz. [29:44] The Raiders didn’t win last week. [29:46] Whatever it is, that’s what’s going on. [29:49] And so all day, every day, [29:51] we are utterly consumed with everything that has nothing to do with God. [29:58] And then we try to press pause on Sunday,

[30:00] come in, sing a few songs, hear a little bit of Bible, [30:03] maybe go to community group, get our Jesus on a little bit during the week. [30:07] But then we retreat out of that, and we go back into what we call the real world. [30:11] And that’s what our minds are consumed with. [30:13] And then we say, man, I just don’t feel the presence of God.

[30:24] Whatever is true, whatever is honorable, [30:26] whatever is just, whatever is pure, [30:28] whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, [30:31] if there’s any excellence, if there’s anything worthy of praise, [30:35] think about these things.

[30:39] What’s your thought life like?

[30:42] What lies are you believing about yourself? [30:46] That the Gospel says, Jesus died for that. [30:49] Don’t let it be your burden anymore. [30:51] What guilt consumes you?

[30:55] What hate towards someone else just drives you to anger?

[31:03] What hurt do you need to trust God with?

[31:09] We do have a worship problem, [31:12] but it’s because we have a thankfulness problem.

[31:16] I like Facebook and I hate it. [31:19] It lets me into your world, sometimes I don’t want to be there.

[31:23] And over the past 30 days, I’ve had this great opportunity, [31:27] and I’m not pointing you out, so I’m probably going to be thinking I am, [31:30] because most of the people that have been doing this don’t even go here. [31:33] But the 30 days of thankfulness,

[31:37] most of the things that we’re thankful for aren’t going to outlive us.

[31:44] Most of the things we’re thankful for, if we’re honest, [31:47] are going to be obsolete next year, [31:49] because most of us it’s like the iPad or the iPhone or something.

[31:58] Are you thankful for God? [32:01] And not just that one thing where it’s like, I’m just really thankful for God.

[32:08] No, I’m talking about the whole story of God. [32:11] Are you thankful for it? Are you saturated with it? [32:14] Are you living it? Are you speaking it? [32:16] Are you giving it to your children? Are you giving it to your spouse? [32:20] Are you giving it to your neighbors? [32:21] Are you giving it to the work people at your workforce?

[32:24] Are you doing thankfulness every day by saturating your mind with Jesus?

[32:37] And is there enough of Him in your mind

[32:43] to take it as far as it can go?

[32:48] This is where everything starts.

[32:52] Before it ever reaches my hands, before it ever reaches my feet.

[32:57] And if I’m saturated with so many other thoughts, [33:02] I’m going to struggle to ever be content with Him, [33:08] because I don’t even know Him.

[33:14] Finally this morning, [33:17] contentment comes from commitment to gospel-centered worship of God. [33:23] Let’s finish Paul’s story.

[33:27] Before he ends up in jail, he’s still in Ephesus.

[33:34] And in Acts chapter 21, verse 10, [33:40] here’s what he says. [33:43] [33:43] While we were staying for many days, [33:47] he hadn’t left yet. [33:49] A prophet named Agabus came down from Judea,

[33:53] and coming to us, he took Paul’s belt, [33:56] and bound his feet and hands, and said, [33:58] thus says the Holy Spirit, [34:00] This is how the Jews at Jerusalem will bind the man who owns this belt, [34:03] and deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles. [34:05] When he heard this, we and the people there urged him not to go to Jerusalem.

[34:10] Then Paul answered, [34:12] What are you doing weeping and breaking my heart? [34:14] For I am ready not only to be imprisoned, [34:17] but even to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus. [34:21] And since he was not persuaded, we ceased and said, [34:24] Let the will of the Lord be done.

[34:26] Here’s what I want you to see about the end of that text. [34:28] He says, we ceased. [34:30] In other words, the guy that wrote the book of Acts, Luke, [34:33] the guy that wrote the gospel according to Luke, [34:36] he followed Paul on many of his missionary journeys. [34:38] When Agabus came,

[34:40] Luke’s faith, a guide the Spirit spoke the inerrant word of God through, [34:45] was troubled to the point where he said, [34:48] Paul, I can’t live without you. Don’t go. [34:52] So fill you in. That guy’s going to struggle with his faith. [34:55] You might, and I might.

[35:00] But I want you to understand what’s so important about what Paul does here.

[35:07] It’s not just that he’s like this road warrior guy where he’s like, [35:10] I’m willing to die.

[35:13] Lots of people say that. Lots of men pretend that. [35:18] But when I hear a noise at night, I get freaked out too. [35:22] I’m like, honey, can you go check on that? [35:24] Oh, I’m the guy. Okay, I’ll do it. [35:27] Okay, let me take our guard dog, the Puggle.

[35:32]

[35:36] Here’s what Paul’s saying.

[35:41] Biblical contentment is costly. [35:44] It’s costly by the world’s standards. [35:47] He goes to Jerusalem. [35:49] And Paul has a lot of faith, man. [35:51] He immediately, as soon as he goes there, he goes into the temple. [35:55] Let me fill you in. Paul’s a wanted man in Jerusalem.

[36:00] So he goes to the temple. [36:03] And he’s fulfilling a Nazarite vow that we don’t have to get into. [36:07] And he’s there with a couple of other believers. [36:10] And people see him. [36:11] And a riot breaks out because they hate him so much. [36:15] So the Roman soldiers come.

[36:17] And at first they’re like, something’s going on. [36:19] We’ve got to save this guy’s life. [36:20] So they go in, they grab Paul, they take him, and they put him in jail just to protect him. [36:24] But then the people in Jerusalem are so furious that they’re like, okay, let’s charge this guy. [36:30] He incited a riot. [36:31] So they take him to Rome.

[36:34] And he lives the rest of his days under at least house arrest. [36:37] A lot of that was actually in a prison. [36:38] And then he’s ultimately executed.

[36:42] But here’s what I want you to pick up from what happens.

[36:47] Is that in Philippians chapter 1, after all of this has taken place, [36:51] here’s Paul’s perspective about his time in jail. [36:55] I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel.

[37:02] Wow. [37:03] So that it has become known throughout the whole imperial guard and to all the rest of my imprisonment is for Christ.

[37:13] And most of the brothers, having become confident in the Lord by my imprisonment, [37:17] are much more bold to speak the word without fear.

[37:24] Here’s where sometimes we put on these lenses where we read scripture like it’s a movie. [37:28] This actually happened.

[37:32] Paul’s in prison. He has no certainty that he’s ever going to get out.

[37:37] And he says, well, I was preaching the gospel out there. I’m just going to do it here.

[37:42] Prison guards begin to come to faith in Christ. [37:47] And then he says, when that happened, it spread throughout the entire imperial guard of Rome.

[37:56] And now it’s advancing through Rome at a rate that if I had not been imprisoned, [38:04] then these people of influence in the empirical guard would not have heard the gospel [38:08] and it would not be going through Rome the way that it did. [38:11] And because of the way that it’s going through Rome, [38:13] people that were trusting in God before I came here, they trust him more. [38:18] So they’re telling even more people about the gospel.

[38:24] True worship is what Paul is experiencing in his contentment, [38:28] because his contentment is found in the red hot fast advancement of the gospel to people who need to know it.

[38:40] So when you’re looking at it through that lens, the way that Paul gets to his contentment makes a lot more sense. [38:47] Look in Philippians 4.10.

[38:51] He says, I rejoiced in the Lord greatly that now at length you have revived your concern for me. [38:58] A little window into what that means. [39:01] When Paul was arrested, they ran scared.

[39:05] Say you don’t want to go to jail.

[39:09] Paul says, glad you came around. [39:12] And now we’re back in a good relationship.

[39:17] He says, you were indeed concerned for me, but you had no opportunity. [39:21] Not that I’m speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. [39:30] I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. [39:35] In any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of facing plenty, and hunger, abundance, and need. [39:43] I can do all things through him who strengthens me.

[39:50] Guys, Paul wasn’t making lemonade out of lemons.

[40:00] That’s not what he was doing.

[40:03] Paul was looking at the hand of God worked before his eyes. [40:07] God was using him to advance his mission, and he was overjoyed because his joy was in the mission of Jesus. [40:14] And Jesus had the utmost of his affections. [40:19] Throw him in jail, and he will simply preach the gospel there.

[40:25] He wanted Jesus more than he wanted anything else.

[40:33] What do you want more than anything else?

[40:39] That’s what’s going to command your worship. [40:41] That’s what’s going to command your contentment.

[40:46] Paul knew that he was going to sacrifice his contentment by furthering the gospel the way that God wanted him to. [40:57] But here’s the reality is, when he was told that obeying God would cost him his comfort, he said yes, because he knew that comfort wasn’t contentment.

[41:08] Comfort would actually have cost him his contentment. [41:14] So he gladly sacrificed comfort, sat in a prison, sat under house arrest, gladly risked his life. [41:23] Because he knew that in risking his life, he wasn’t risking anything. [41:29] Because he knew that God had control, God had command, and then he’s got to go someday. [41:35] You might as well go following God, because that’s the only real security you ever will have in this life. [41:43] Contentment requires faith that knowing God is better than everything else that you’ve got going on.

[41:51] What tough situation has God put you in so that you can get his gospel to people who need it?

[41:58] I don’t think anyone sitting in this room is fully like, you’re just, everything’s great. [42:08] You probably told me it was this morning. [42:10] But there’s some tough situation going on in your life. There’s some sickness. There’s some strife in a relationship. [42:18] There’s a hardship at work. There’s a threat somewhere.

[42:24] My question this morning is, is that ruining your contentment? [42:30] Here’s what I want you to do. I want you to look at that tough situation. [42:33] I want you to look at how God has brought you there. [42:36] And maybe you didn’t even see that God was bringing you there, but you’re there. [42:40] And here’s what I want you to do. I want you to ask yourself the question. [42:43] How can God redeem this to get his gospel further?

[42:49] And when you begin to think about it that way, you have begun the process of saturating your mind with the truth of Jesus Christ. [43:00] Paul trusted God completely and found joy in him in an obeying him to make other people glad in God through the truth in Jesus. [43:10] What thorn of a person has God put in your life? [43:15] And how does God want you to make that person glad in Jesus?

[43:23] Every decision, every situation, every moment must flow from the truth of the gospel of Jesus for our lives to have contentment. [43:35] We trust him because he came and put himself into the greatest suffering this world has ever known. [43:40] The one who had no sin paying the penalty for all who have ever sinned so that we could have freedom to know, trust, and follow God. [43:52] Live as you were created, and you will find thankfulness that you never thought you could have. [44:00] And a life that is finally worth living with a joy that no one can ever take from you. [44:08] Do not believe the lie that you are so far from God that you can’t have the life he wants you to have.

[44:21] Jesus dispels that myth. [44:25] You can know God and be used completely by him because his grace is sufficient for your needs.

[44:40] As the band comes up, right now I want to enter into a real time of reflection.

[44:49] I can’t help but think that as Paul was in that imprisonment, he thought about the suffering that he had. [45:01] Some people say that he spent some of that time in a dungeon.

[45:07] He spent some of it in house arrest, and he spent the end walking towards an executioner.

[45:15] But I can’t help but think that a great part of that time is spent in reflection. [45:22] He’s walking the same path that Jesus walked.

[45:26] A path that included suffering, a path that included a lack of comfort, [45:32] a path that included a great trust that what was coming on the other side was worth going through this side. [45:44] So my question for you this morning before you come and partake in communion as a follower of Jesus,

[45:51] is what are you hoping for on the other side of whatever you are going through in this life?

[45:58] What are you hoping for? [45:59] Are you hoping just for some temporary relief in this life? [46:04] Or are you hoping for eternal glory in the next one?

[46:09] Because your actions in this life reflect what you are hoping for afterwards.

[46:18] Are you following Jesus?

[46:22] If you are not, start today. [46:26] Repent. Change. [46:29] Change your thinking. [46:31] And saturate yourself with trust in Jesus.

[46:37] For those of you that are followers of Jesus when you come,

[46:42] I want it to be a great proclamation to one another

[46:47] that you are thankful. [46:50] And that thankfulness is going to be seen through the actions of your life. [46:54] If you are in here and you are not a follower of Jesus or you are really struggling with doubt right now, [47:02] I want you to know that today is the day where your trust can be secure.

[47:08] I will be up here, there will be those in the back, I would love to talk to you. [47:12] But nothing I say, nothing that I do can ever do you any good. [47:17] The reality is that you were created to trust in the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross [47:22] and in His resurrection. [47:25] And if you trust Him, follow Him. [47:29] And you will have a life that will not be free of suffering,

[47:34] but it will be full of Godly contentment.