Contentment

Good morning.

It's a great privilege to share with you today, and I much appreciated Jono calling me, despite his raspy throat, to step in today.

And can I just say at the outset, Chris, we didn't speak this week, did we?

But your testimony provides the introduction for what I want to share today.

I thought when Jono said, look, you can speak on anything, and I thought, well, what's some of the biggest challenges I'm facing right now in my life?

And as I sat down to do an audit of those, I realized I had 12-month servant series to bring.

But the one that stood out was this issue of contentment.

If there's a challenge that I'm facing now, and I think many people are facing, it's the challenge of contentment.

Many years ago, we got up early in the morning.

The kids were young, and so it was gift time.

And one thing running, my wife is very capable with gift giving.

Of course, I was the one that looked for all the gifts for our children and wrapped them and all of that.

That's a lie.

But I always looked forward to Raylene's gift for me.

So the kids were there, they'd opened their presents, and my time came, and eagerly, Raylene handed me this small little package.

And I thought, well, this is weird.

Jewelry this year.

And I opened it.

There was a bit of paper in there, and I thought, this is one of these kind of, go from here, look in the microwave, look on top of the fridge, and, you know, one of those kinds of gifts.

And I opened it up, and I pulled it out, and it was a lay-by docket for a guitar.

I kind of dropped plenty of hints that I'd like a guitar, this guitar for Christmas.

And here's my gift, a lay-by docket.

And I looked at her and said, what?

She says, well, we couldn't quite afford it for today, but times were tough back then, but it's the best we can do.

I said, look, I can't play Stairway to Heaven with a lay-by docket.

What is this?

Is this a joke?

And off we went as a pastor, off to church, to Broward, to do our Christmas Day service with me being particularly upset about getting a lay-by docket for Christmas.

I'm hard to please.

Do I have any friends today?

I wonder if God sometimes looks at me and says, that child of mine, Dawkins, he's so hard to please.

I've given him so much.

He's so hard to please.

I think so.

We live among a dissatisfied world of people today.

Just a cursory glance at social media reveals a world of unhappiness, negativity, pessimism, gloomness or glumness or whatever the word is, self-pity, complaining, rights being violated, very little about responsibilities, bordering on anger, violence and resentment.

Why so few messages of having what I'm calling circumstantial commitment or contentment, rather, reports that whatever's happening for me right now, whatever's my circumstances, I'm content with life.

And sadly for Christians, we don't appear to be that much different.

One dictionary defines contentment as the state of being, the state of mentality or being emotionally satisfied with things as they are.

There are a few penned words that capture the experience of this circumstantial contentment more than these words.

And John, I referred to these only a few months ago.

When peace like a river attendeth my way, when sorrows like sea billows roll, whatever my lot, thou'st taught me to say, it is well, it is well with my soul.

It is well with my soul, it is well with my soul.

Though Satan should buff it, though trials will come, let this blessed assurance control that Christ has regarded my helpless estate and has shed his own blood for my soul.

It is well with my soul.

Horatio Spafford, the great Chicago fire of 1871, ruined him financially.

He planned to travel by boat with his wife, Anna, to assist Dwight L.

Moody in his evangelistic campaign.

He ended up not being able to go because of business commitments, and sent off his wife and his four daughters.

And while crossing the Atlantic Ocean, the ship sank rapidly after colliding with another vessel, and all four of Spafford's daughters died.

His wife survived and, now we know, wrote those famous words back to her husband, saved alone.

Shortly after Spafford traveled himself to be with his wife, and as they crossed the very place where the daughters, his daughters had died, he wrote, It is well with my soul.

Thank you.

There are two universal realities that form the foundation of what I want to say today.

Firstly, people want contentment.

We desire it.

And secondly, people are looking in the wrong places to find it.

Here's what often happens in the world, as a person achieves more and more, and more in terms of success, expectations can arise at the same rate.

The result is never being satisfied, achieving no permanent gain in happiness.

An article that appeared in a newspaper in London that essentially said from time to time...

Let me start that again.

Said, from the time one turns 13, through the time someone turns 40, it's just downhill in terms of contentment and happiness.

It's just a slow and steady decline.

And apparently, 74 is the year that you have your best chance of being content if you make it there.

Do we have any 74-year-olds here today?

Could that really be true?

We buy a new car, and for some, it doesn't take long for some new model to appear.

All the bells and whistles you now need so desperately.

You get promoted at work, within a few weeks, you're eying off the next rung of the ladder.

Well, you earn $100,000, and you're really happy and content with that until you discover your best friend's earning $200,000, and suddenly your $100,000 isn't so good after all.

And so what if someone comes and says, maybe you already have enough stuff?

What if God were to come to you or to me today and say, you have enough stuff?

I've walked with you all these years.

John Stott, the famous pastor and English theologian wrote, contentment is the secret of inward peace.

It remembers the stark truth that we brought nothing into the world and we can take nothing out of it.

Life, in fact, is a pilgrimage from one moment of nakedness to another, so we should travel light and live simply.

Our enemy is not possessions but excess.

Our battle cry is not nothing but enough.

We've got enough.

Simplicity says, if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that.

Is it possible that we can get to that place in our lives?

So when Paul wrote in Philippians, I've learned the secret of being content.

Whatever the circumstances, you'll find there's no exception there.

I find that extremely frustrating.

I want there to be my exception there so I can grumble about it.

But I've learned the secret of contentment.

Whatever, whatever circumstance, is it possible?

Is it possible?

Proverbs 27 verse 20 says, hell and decay are never satisfied.

And a person's eyes are never satisfied.

Have you ever gone looking for something and found out you've actually got it already?

I do that with my glasses.

So where's my glasses?

And they're on top of my head.

Spend 10 minutes, Rayleigh, where's my glasses?

But just generally in life.

The context here in Philippians is Paul's under house arrest.

These are really tough circumstances for him.

Philippians is one of the four so-called prison letters, prison epistles.

It's never a happy place for a person in prison, but in those days, it's horrific.

And this is the place where these words come out from in terms of location, a man in prison, and where he writes about the story of finding contentment.

Paul is saying that when I got sent here on trumped up charges, I didn't lash out or spit the dummy.

Again, I think of myself in those circumstances.

I'd be pleading for rights.

I want to see my lawyer.

Richard, come and see me.

Get me off these charges.

I deserve this.

I need that.

This is not fair.

This is injustice.

This is injustice.

And amazingly, when he describes contentment, he refers to it as a secret of contentment.

I've learned the secret of contentment.

Why?

Why?

Because not everyone sees it.

A secret's hidden from view.

You've got to do a little bit to discover it.

Ever tried to rest a secret out of someone?

It's not easy, nor should it be, but...

It's hidden from view.

And he writes that the challenge is to learn the secret.

I've learned the secret of contentment.

You see, contentment doesn't get imputed to us.

Here Paul says, I've learned about this, contentment, implying he wasn't always this way, but through life's journey, he's learned of this secret called contentment.

And like all learning, we'll fail from time to time as we learn that secret.

You may never have noticed before that Spafford in his great hymn, and I hadn't noticed it till I read it again this week, Spafford said, Thou hast taught me to say, It is well with my soul.

He learned it.

In this book of Philippians, the word mind is used 10 times.

The word think is used five times.

The word remember is used one time.

We need to be thinkers.

We need to consider our minds.

And Paul in speaking about learning the secret wants the Christians in Philippi and us to think differently about our lives.

He wants us to think the way Jesus did about life, about decision making, about relationships, about our possessions, about conflict, about marriage, about family life and parenting, about priorities, about every aspect of our life, to consider them, to think about them.

So let's do a stocktake of our mind life.

I suspect every day, our minds need a recalibration.

And Paul again would put that eloquently in Romans chapter 12 verse two, don't conform to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.

Our minds need to be renewed.

And in this context, renewed to realize how much we have, how God has walked with us in this journey, how grateful we should be.

It's such a challenge.

The mind is a very busy place, where the devil, as well as our own desires, can trip us up.

Someone said, contentment is an attitude that says, I will be satisfied with what God has given me.

An attitude emanating from within.

2 Corinthians 4, verses 8 and 9, Paul's testimony of his life that undergirds this challenge to us about learning the secret of contentment.

We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed.

Perplexed, yes, but not in despair.

Persecuted, badly, heavily, relentlessly persecuted.

They're my words, but that's his story.

Persecuted, but not abandoned.

Never abandoned.

Struck down.

Physically and emotionally, spiritually, constantly struck down.

Constantly struck down, but not destroyed.

Truly.

And here's this Paul with that testimony, saying, I am content.

And he goes on to say in Philippians verses 11 and 12, I'm not saying this because I'm in need, for I've learned to be content whatever the circumstances.

I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty.

I've learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well-fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.

And so we remember Chris's words today, the testimony of what he saw, the joy he spoke about among people who didn't have plenty, but had so little.

2 Corinthians 11, Paul wrote, three times I was beaten with rods, once I was pelted with stones, three times I was shipwrecked.

I spent a night and a day in the open sea.

I've been constantly on the move.

I've been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my fellow Jews, in danger from Gentiles, in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea, and in danger from false believers.

I've labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep.

I've known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food.

I've been cold and naked.

Besides everything else, I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches.

But if I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness.

I've learned the secret of being content.

It's because of the instinctive, intentional realization of Christ in Paul, the presence of Jesus within, the hope of glory, Christ in me, the hope of glory, the glory, the promise of his presence, and his power, and his sufficiency within him.

Not because everything's gone to plan, or I always have everything I physically need, but because of God's promise.

When I worked for five years with the homeless and the poor in Hope Street, just as Chris testified, I found an incredible community of people who had a joy I hadn't seen in any community I'd worked with.

People who I'd sit and talk with who lived in cardboard boxes, lived outdoors in the cold and the rain.

They had nothing.

Nothing.

And yet, there was an aspect to that community I wanted in my own life.

I'd go home and be grateful for the first time to have a bed to sleep in.

I need that recalibration every day.

Contentment's.

Not their fulfillment.

Brothers and sisters, of what you want, but the realization of how much you already have.

Proverbs 30, verses 8 and 9.

Keep falsehood and lies far from me.

Give me neither poverty nor riches, but give me only my daily bread.

Otherwise, I may have too much and disown you, and say, who is the Lord?

Or I may become poor and steal and so dishonor the name of my God.

That's me in there.

I thought I'd go out and steal, but that's me.

I'm found in those verses, how I need God so much.

Thank And the recognition of him being literally, literally all I need.

I don't need.

Contentment's about understanding God's sovereignty, God's knowledge and his awareness.

God who's created us fearfully, wonderfully made, a God who has a plan and a purpose for you to bless, to not harm, to give you a hope of the future.

God is a good God.

Despite whatever circumstances we're facing now, and some of you would be facing some particularly difficult circumstances right now.

Thank you.

Whatever my lot, thou has caused me to say, it is well with my soul.

Finding satisfaction and contentment won't ever be about what you have or what you don't have, but who you know.

The blessing of knowing the saviour of the world, the almighty God, the wisest of counsellors, the greatest and closest of friends.

God gives our lives perspective.

So a key to contentment is our instinctive awareness of and trust in the presence of Christ in our lives.

So the author to Hebrews would write in chapter 13, verse five, keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have because God has said, never will I leave you, never will I forsake you.

There's our motivation, there's our foundation.

Never will I leave you, never will I forsake you.

All your life, every minute of your life, since your conception, God has known you, God has been close to you, God has been for you, God has supplied for you.

Thank you.

The Lord's my shepherd, I shall not want.

The Lord's my shepherd, I have everything I need.

King David was content.

God is shepherding us up the mountaintops and through the dark valleys.

I have what I need.

Everything else is a bonus now.

And it was Socrates who said, contentment is natural wealth.

Luxury is an artificial poverty.

You may find yourself sometime this week saying, I can't do this, I can't face this.

I'm going crazy.

I don't know where to turn.

I've lost my way.

I'm panicking.

I'm afraid.

I'm worried.

The Lord is your shepherd.

You have everything.

I could do all things through Christ, who strengthens me.

If that isn't the truth, then God's word is there to trick us.

Thank you.

I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

We say with the disciples today, Lord, help me with my unbelief, particularly about your closeness and your intimacy.

For me, my apologies.

Gratitude plays an important part as well.

With Paul saying in 1 Thessalonians 5.18, give thanks in all circumstances, no exceptions.

Again, he's mean that way, Paul.

Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

I finish with this story.

The pastor was visiting an old friend who only three years earlier had advised him of a terminal disease he'd been diagnosed with, and Tim, his name, said, Hi, pastor.

There was a long, awkward pause.

The man had been a pastor for 20 years and still didn't know what to say.

Tim broke the silence.

I've learned something.

The pastor knew this much at least.

You don't trifle with the words of a person who was about to die.

You just listen carefully.

So the pastor said, Tell me, mate, what have you learned?

Tim said, I've learned that life is not like a streaming movie, huh?

The pastor didn't get it.

He said, I don't know, what do you mean?

Tim said, it's not like a streaming movie.

You can't fast forward through the bad parts.

Long pause.

And then Tim interrupts the silence again to say, but I've learned that Jesus Christ is in every frame.

And right now, that's enough.

Will you begin your search for this wonderful secret today?

It just begins with the first step, the secret of contentment.

Will you stop sometime this week, maybe a few times?

Think upon, like Spafford, your lot in life, and say, whatever my lot, no exception.

You, Jesus, in my life, have enabled me to say, it is well, it is well with my soul.

Let's pray to you.

Father, thank you for the glorious knowledge of your presence in our lives.

Where in a crowd like ours today, there's some tough circumstances being faced.

But we will be people who will stand in faith to trust in you, to enter into the challenge of learning the secret of contentment.

That we may be a testimony to a very, very broken world on how the presence and power, salvation of Christ, changes everything.

In Jesus name, amen.

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