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NewCity Orlando Sermons
The Art of Divine Contentment | Philippians 4:8-13
Pastor of Formation & Mission Benjamin Kandt kicks off our series called The Art of Divine Contentment from Philippians 4:8-13. Over the course of this series, inspired by Thomas Watson's timeless work, we delve into "The Art of Divine Contentment," exploring how to find rest in a restless world. We'll uncover the secret of contentment not in fleeting circumstances or from consuming more but in the worth of Jesus over everything. We will uncover the freedom and beauty of finding contentment in God alone. Join us on this journey of discovering the deep joy that comes from resting in the goodness of our heavenly Father.
Hello everyone. This is Pastor Damien. You're listening to Sermon Audio from New City, orlando. At New City, we believe all of us need all of Jesus for all of life. For more resources, visit our website at newcityorlandocom. Thanks for listening.
Speaker 1:Good morning. Please pray with me. Give us understanding that we may keep your law and observe it with our whole hearts. Lead us in the path of your commandments, for we delight in it. Turn our eyes from looking at worthless things and give us life in your ways, through Jesus Christ, our Lord, amen.
Speaker 1:Please remain standing, if you're able, for today's scripture reading, which comes from Philippians 4. Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things, what you have learned and received and heard and seen in me. Practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you. I rejoice in the Lord greatly, and now, at the length, you have received your concern from me. You were indeed concerned for me, but you had no opportunity. Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned, in whatever situation I am to be content, I know how to be brought low and I know how to abound in any and every circumstance. I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me. This is God's word. Thanks be to God. You may be seated.
Speaker 2:Well, good morning. My name is Benjamin, I'm a pastor here with New City and we start a new sermon series today that will run through the whole month of May on this book called the Art of Divine Contentment by Thomas Watson. All right, and you know it's interesting. Actually, I found out from rereading it that on May 5th 1653, the first edition of this was published. 1653, the first edition of this was published, so only 371 years ago today this book was published. Some of you look at that art and you think is that the original edition right there? Because that's a little retro.
Speaker 2:It is, and I listened to this book on my bike commute and I was marked by it last year and I thought we need to preach a sermon series on this at New City because of how impactful it was for me, and so I want everybody to read this book in the month of May. It's really important to me. So if you would look under your chairs now and I'm just kidding, this isn't Oprah, you get a Puritan, you get a Puritan. That's not how we're going to do it, but I for real have this copy to give away to somebody who will follow two stipulations. Here they are, you ready? Here's my conditions you come up to me afterwards, I'll give you this book If you will read it in the month of May and you'll share some of the things the Holy Spirit's teaching you as you engage with it. That's my ask if you want to come get this book from me. And the reason why is because this sermon series, for me, is more aspirational than actual. In other words, I'm kind of out preaching my coverage on this, the art of divine contentment, and so I genuinely want you to engage with this book and talk to me about it. What is God teaching you? Because I want to learn. I am apprenticing myself to Jesus in the area of divine contentment, just like I'm inviting you to as well.
Speaker 2:And some of this is because I don't relate with apathy or listlessness or what psychologists call anhedonia or what psychologists call anhedonia. In other words, I relate more acutely with a restlessness, a desire, a longing for more that actually touches where I find myself more often. It's why my adopted ancient mentor from afar, augustine, of Hippo's famous quote you have made us for yourself, o Lord, and our hearts are restless until they find rest in you. And I identify with that restlessness, which is one of the reasons I love, augustine Named my kid after him. I've got skin in the game now, and so I say that to say I have lived with a Labrador-like enthusiasm for all things. It's just like that's just how I am, and you know this the best things about you and the worst things about you are often the same things, and I had a lunch with a good friend of mine on Friday and he knows me well and he reflected back to me something to the effect of Ben, your exuberance for life is such a gift and such a burden for you at the same time, and I feel that acutely.
Speaker 2:And so when I come to a book like the Art of Divine Contentment, I realize I've got a lot to learn in this area. I've got a lot of area, a lot of room for growth, because I have a voracious appetite for more, more experiences, more joy, more pleasure, more knowledge, more people, more, more, more. It's hard to be content if you're like that, and I assume some of you are as well. And so, given that, when I was reading another book by a guy named Ronald Rolheiser, I came to this quote and it stopped me in my tracks and then emblazoned the letters on my heart. Here's the quote Restlessness is the opposite of being restful, or you could say content.
Speaker 2:He goes on. Restfulness is a form of awareness, a way of being in life. It is being in ordinary life with a sense of ease, gratitude, appreciation, peace and prayer. And here are the words that I can't get away from. We are restful when ordinary life is enough. We are restful when ordinary life is enough. I want that. Do you want that? Do you want that restfulness of ordinary life just being enough for you?
Speaker 2:Well, over the next four weeks, we're going to learn from the apostle paul and some other authors in scripture what paul calls the secret of contentment in our text this morning, and so I I'm inviting you, I'm inviting you to pray into contentment for the month of May. You might not identify with how I describe my own self, but I guarantee everybody in here has some room to grow in the area of contentment. And so pray into that, ask God regularly through the month of May. Teach me contentment, because I believe that God really does want to do a work in your hearts and mine over the course of this month. And so I'm inviting you buy this book, read it, listen to it, whatever you need to do but read it, engage with it meditatively, pray through it, learn from Paul, who could write these words from a miserable Roman prison quote. I have learned, in whatever situation I am, to be content. And so imagine the freedom of your mood, not being dependent on the moment. Don't you long for that? Don't you want that freedom, that kind of liberty? Imagine what it would be like if you just enjoyed life, even when you don't get your way. That's the kind of contentment Paul knew and wants to teach us. And so, with that, I want to look at Philippians 4 together. If you have a Bible or device, go ahead and get it out or open and turn it on to Philippians 4.
Speaker 2:But before we really look closely at the text, I need to set up the problem of discontentment first, because it is a problem and it's a pervasive problem and you might not think it's a problem. So I want to work really hard to convince you that it is a problem, the problem of discontentment, and then we'll look at Paul's secret of contentment. Those are my two points problem of discontentment, the secret of contentment here we go, here we go. The problem of discontentment is this it's the belief that contentment comes from getting what we want. That's the problem of discontentment. If you're discontent anywhere in your life, if you're lacking contentment anywhere in your life, it's because you operate under the belief that contentment can only come when you get what you want. This isn't a new problem. This is an ancient problem, but it is a problem why?
Speaker 2:Well, there's a story of when John D Rockefeller made his first billion. Someone asked him hey, how much money is enough? And he said, famously, just a little bit more. Why is it a problem? Well, because we all know that enough is a relative term. What's enough for you? Like? That's a real question. We're going to take some time to pray through that at the end of the sermon, which is what do you think you need in order to be content? What is enough for you? Let me just give you some examples of the things that we want, that we think if we had them, we would have contentment because we got what we want. Right, that's the problem of discontentment.
Speaker 2:Here's the first one. We live in a consumeristic age. In other words, we are convinced that we have bought into the lie, pun intended, that happiness comes from getting acquiring the next thing, whether it's the next tech, the next fashion styles, the next luxury items, whatever it is. And yet the problem with that is that there's research that shows that you cannot buy contentment on a shelf. In other words, the research actually very clearly says that there's a very weak correlation between wealth and contentment. In fact, the more prosperous a society grows, the more common depression is. We've got to pay attention to that in a consumeristic culture. That's the first one. The second one is validation. In an age of social media, likes and shares and comments are just a way to assess our own personal self-worth. We think if we have enough validation, if we can curate the perfect image and persona online, then we will finally get what we're longing for, because we still believe that contentment comes from getting what you want.
Speaker 2:The third thing is success. The third thing is success. Many of us are committed to an ambition that has us striving towards career milestones or promotions or raises, so that we can get a prestigious title or new lifestyle or whatever that might be, and so we work tirelessly on projects, giving our best energies there instead of the people that are around us, but we ignore the fact that so many people will testify to the experience of climbing the ladder of success, only to find that it was leaning against the wrong wall. One of those hard lessons you don't learn until you're about dead. It's because we believe that contentment comes from getting what we want. The fourth thing is relationships. Society tells us that there is the one out there. We all want the Jerry Maguire moment. You complete me. We think that that person exists, and so what happens is we keep on striving and try to find that person, or we find somebody we think is that person, and then crush them under our idealistic expectations, and then we live our lives discontent and disillusioned and the divorce rates spike. Because we believe the lie that contentment comes from getting what we want. The fifth thing is experiences. If only we could travel to all the exotic places, if only we could do all the exciting things, if only we could have more ways of being in the world that just excite us and energize us, then we'll be fulfilled. But that is believing the lie that contentment comes from getting what you want.
Speaker 2:Number six self-improvement. So maybe you're like no, none of that stuff, but you're committed to Project Self, and we live in a self-help industry with a therapy culture, and so we go for techniques and life hacks and counseling and everything we can do books and podcasts and we work really hard because we just want to build up Project Self, because we think once we've arrived personally at this place, then we will be content. We even make decisions about things based on their cost, on whether or not it will enhance Project Self. You're willing to make some sacrifices, of course Get up at 4 am, hit the gym, sweat, post on Insta, all the things but it's really about Project Self because once you hit that body weight or that fill in the blank, then you can be content. Because you believe the lie that contentment comes from getting what you want.
Speaker 2:I've only got one more, which is what I call future tripping. Future tripping is that belief that next thing, graduation for some of you it's May, for some of you it's the next page, turn to the next chapter of your life story. It's that contentment is always just off into the future somewhere and when you get there, then you'll finally be content. And you live with this kind of future tripping and it actually causes a lot of anxiety. Okay, because you believe the lie that contentment comes from getting what you want. And so all these I named seven of them because that's a perfect number in the Bible. They're all just different manifestations of the same ever-ancient and ever-new lie that contentment comes from getting what we want. There's a poet who, I think, articulated this well, named Jason Lehman. He says this it was spring, but it was summer.
Speaker 2:I wanted the warm days and the great outdoors. It was summer, but it was summer. I wanted the warm days and the great outdoors. It was summer, but it was fall. I wanted the colorful leaves and the cool, dry air. It was fall, but it was winter. I wanted the beautiful snow and the joy of the holiday season, and all of the Orlandoians say amen. It was now winter, but it was spring. I wanted the warmth and the blossoming of nature.
Speaker 2:I was a child, but it was adulthood. I wanted the warmth and the blossoming of nature. I was a child, but it was adulthood. I wanted the freedom and the respect, and all the kids in here say amen. I was 20, but it was 30. I wanted to be mature and sophisticated, which is funny to me. I was middle-aged. I was middle-aged, but it was 20. I wanted the youth and the free spirit. I was retired, but it was middle age. I wanted the presence of mind without limitations. My life was over, but I never got what I wanted.
Speaker 2:There's something haunting about that poem because we resonate with it. There's something in us that vibrates with those words, because we know that experience. Just the next thing. I have this, but I want that because it is the perpetuation of the lie, that contentment comes from getting what you want. Don't you long to be free from the slavery of your own shifting whims and wants? Wouldn't that be compelling? Imagine somebody who lived like that. And so why don't we just renounce the lie and live in light of what we know to be true? Let me tell you a quick story.
Speaker 2:The actor Jim Carrey, very famous, described that his whole life he had been striving to quote, unquote, make it right. And then this transition happened, and this is how he describes it. He says quote, somewhere in the middle of absolute confusion and absolute disappointment, the fruition of all of my dreams, standing there with everything anybody else had ever dreamed about having, and being unhappy. You see, I think this is the thing we all think. Once we get what we want, then we'll be content. We buy into the lie, and somebody calls it a life illusion, and it actually motivates us to press on, to push forward. And what Jim Carrey is saying is I made it, I reached higher and farther. I was better at that.
Speaker 2:Contentment comes from getting what you want than anybody in this room. I guarantee you that Jim Carrey is saying and guess what? I made it and found out that it was a lie all along. He goes on to say, quote I think everybody should get rich and famous and do everything they ever dreamed of, so that they can see that it's not the answer. End quote you just haven't gotten there yet. You're just not on his level. Neither am I. That's why you're still living to this life illusion, the lie that contentment comes from getting what you want. But Paul wants to set us free, jesus wants to set us free. And so if that's the problem of contentment, what is the secret of contentment? This is the second point here. The secret of contentment is not found in getting what you want, but in wanting what you get. Not in getting what you want, but wanting what you get. Now, there's like a dozen caveats I have to make to that, but let me just. Let me just do point two and we can talk later. The secret of contentment is not in having, not in getting what you want, but in wanting what you have, what you get, what is in your life?
Speaker 2:The Stoic philosopher Epictetus this is relevant because Paul's writing to the Philippians, and they're a Greco-Roman culture and Stoicism is a dominant ideology of the day and so Paul is setting up Christianity over and against Stoicism. Seneca and Jesus were born the same year, most likely, so this is significant. This is what Epictetus says Do not seek to have events happen as you want them to, but instead want them to happen as they do happen, and your life will go well. So that's in the west, let's try the east. This is what Buddha says when pleasure or pain comes to them the wise feel above pleasure and pain. So let me ask you, is that all Paul's doing? He's just rehashing the Stoics and the Buddhists. Is that what he's doing? Because they would agree with the statement that contentment doesn't come from getting what you want, but in wanting what you get. Stoics, buddhists, they would agree with the statement that contentment doesn't come from getting what you want, but in wanting what you get. Stoics Buddhists, they would agree with that statement. But Paul's doing something different. He's got an ancient art form called Judo, where he's taking the energy of the Stoics and the Buddhists and reversing and redirecting that energy. Watch what he does here.
Speaker 2:If you've got the text in front of you, look with me at Philippians, chapter 4, verse 10, and we're going to walk through this verse by verse. Look at verse 10. Paul says this I rejoiced in the Lord greatly that now, at length, you have revived your concern for me. This is important. He's talking to the Philippians. He's rejoicing. He says you were indeed concerned for me, but you had no opportunity. Not that I'm speaking of being in need. What's Paul protecting right now? Listen, the Philippians gave him money and he wanted to make it abundantly clear that his joy in receiving their gift was not because they met his need. Why? Because Paul knew, and he wanted to make it really clear to the Philippians and to you and me, that contentment is not dependent on getting what you want. And so Paul's saying listen, I'm not speaking of being in need, I'm not stoked that you gave me cash because I needed money. That's not the issue here. Okay? So Paul starts that sentence by saying I rejoiced in the Lord greatly, joy. Paul starts with his joy. This is really important.
Speaker 2:I want to differentiate between pleasure, happiness and joy. Now sometimes they're used interchangeably, but I'm differentiating them here. Pleasure is sourced in the senses. A pleasurable experience is like a delicious meal or a beautiful sunrise or a sweet-sm smelling aroma. Those are pleasurable experiences. Happiness is sourced in happenstances. Same root word on purpose. Happiness is dependent on happenstance or circumstance or your situation that you're in so you can be happy. That's great. But if your circumstances change, you lose that sense of happiness. That's great. But if your circumstances change, you lose that sense of happiness.
Speaker 2:Joy is sourced in securely attached relationships. Here's a way if joy could speak, it would say this I'm so glad to be with you, somebody you love and admire and desire to be with, looking at you eye to eye and saying I'm so glad to be with you. When I come home from work every day, my little boy, my little girl run to me. I pick each of them up and I hold them close and I look at them in the eyes. I say I'm so glad to be with you. And you know what happens.
Speaker 2:Psychologists call this a mutual mind state. We both experience joy in the presence of the other. That's what Paul says. He says I rejoiced in the Lord greatly.
Speaker 2:Paul's not stoked because of his circumstances. He's writing this letter from prison. Why is he rejoicing? Because he's crazy, because he's out of touch with reality. That's a legitimate. You know, crazy people do stuff like that. No, no, no, no. Because Paul knows joy is sourced in a securely attached relationship with the Lord and so he can rejoice in all circumstances, wherever he finds himself. And that's what he's doing, and that's what he's modeling to the Philippians and to you and me. He's trying to give us his secret here, because Paul's joy is independent of situations or his senses. His joy is rooted in a securely attached relationship with Jesus. That's an invitation. It's a way to experience contentment. But let's back up a few verses to verse 8. This is what Paul says in verse 8. He says finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise. Here's the thing think, think about these things.
Speaker 2:There's a couple psychologists, robert Johnson and Jerry Rule, who wrote a book called Contentment A True Way to Happiness, and they say this quote in truth, contentment is the art of embracing reality. It's interesting, secular psychologists. In truth, contentment is the art of embracing reality and the Christian can say yes and amen. But what do you mean by reality? What is ultimately real? As Dallas Willard taught us to ask the Trinity and his kingdom. That's what is ultimately real. As Dallas Willard taught us to ask the Trinity and his kingdom. That's what is ultimately real.
Speaker 2:You see, cutting-edge psychology is finding out right now. It's catching up to Jesus, his Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 6, which is great, thank you. 2,000 years later. It's catching up to it and realizing that when Jesus says hey, if you're anxious, one of the antidotes to anxiety is to see the birds, study the lilies, what acceptance and commitment therapy calls present moment awareness. This is why because where your attention goes, your awareness grows, and so what you attend to fills and expands your awareness of that thing. You have this. If you're looking for a new car and you're like I want a new red Jeep Wrangler, guess what? You see literally everywhere Red Jeep Wranglers. Why? Because where your attention goes, your awareness grows.
Speaker 2:Some of you are discontent because all you do is attend to things that are wrong in your life and you have far more abundance than you ever are aware of. And so Paul is saying think about these things Like pay attention to them, give yourself to them. If you attend to your lack, you will be discontent. I promise you that it's great. It's a really easy formula Attend to the things that you don't have that you want, experience discontentment. But if you attend to the fullness that's around you, you will experience contentment, because it's not in getting what you want, but in wanting what you get, and you've got a lot if you have eyes to see. Now I can't say this with a whole lot of credibility, but just trust me when I say I'm summarizing people like Elizabeth Elliot and Corrie Ten Boom and Viktor Frankl, people who survived, you know, the Holocaust, the death of their husband by cannibals, and they're saying the very same things I'm saying.
Speaker 2:But Paul's saying it and he's in jail saying this Attend to the things around you and you'll see. This is the way that Dallas Willard put it. Attend to the things around you and you'll see. This is the way that Dallas Willard put it. You step into the wonderful world of God, so rich with good things that we won't have enough time to concentrate on them. It's very hard to be grumpy when you're looking at a beautiful rose. Try it. That's what he says. My hero, st Augustine, looked out at the sunrise over the Mediterranean Sea and says if these are the pleasures afforded to simple men, sinful men, imagine what God has in store for those who are his. That's the way to experience the world around you, such that you cultivate contentment. Look with me at verse 9. That's easier said than done. Look at verse 9, though.
Speaker 2:Paul says this what you have learned that's the first of three times he's going to use the word learned, at least in English what you have learned and received and heard and seen in me. Paul says Practice these things and the God of peace will be with you. I just love Paul's audacity, like, hey, just watch my life, do what I do. God's with you. What a bold thing to say. I mean, that's what he just said, right? But I think it's important to notice three times in a text about contentment that's only a few verses long, he uses the word learned.
Speaker 2:Doesn't that feel like good news to you? Contentment must be learned. If you experience a lot of discontentment, that's okay. Just know you gotta learn it, you mature into it, you deepen over time. That's what Paul's saying here. In other words, when you come to know Jesus, it's not like boom, your life is all better in contentment and you're just like floating a few inches above the ground.
Speaker 2:Paul's saying, yeah, he had to learn it. And so if contentment is an art, like Thomas Watson calls it, then we must become artisans. How does any artist learn a craft? Through apprenticeship, through apprenticing themselves to a virtuoso of sorts. And so Paul apprenticed himself to Jesus and others, jesus being the virtuoso of contentment. And then who does Paul expect the Philippians to learn contentment from Him? Look at my life, what you've learned and received and heard and seen in me. Practice these things. This is why we talk about practices so much at New City. It's also why we talk about disciple about practices so much at New City. It's also why we talk about disciple making so much at New City, because disciple making is a key to contentment.
Speaker 2:Why you have to have an embodied example, somebody who has that tacit knowledge of what it looks like to walk with God in difficult circumstances and remaining content. You have to bear witness to it, otherwise it's really hard for you to know and learn and experience that there's a difference between what's called conceptual or propositional knowledge. Know that. You can know that something is true, that's different from what's called procedural knowledge, which is know how you can learn. Know that from reading a great book like this Fantastic. You should do that. It's important knowledge. But you need to learn know how from an embodied example, somebody in front of you, and that's the language Paul uses in verse 12. I know how to be brought low and I know how to abound.
Speaker 2:You see that he's talking about procedural knowledge, the knowledge you can only learn, like you can read books about swinging a golf club or riding a bicycle, but until you try it and do it and fall and try again, you won't experience it. And so we need people to teach us the art of divine contentment, apprenticing ourselves to those people around us. That's why circles matter to us, getting you in a space where you learn that together from other people. But here's an experience that I've witnessed happen. Something like this let's just say you get a cancer diagnosis and you're in a conversation with somebody. You tell them that and then they say something to you like this hey, god is good. In that moment you're a little bit offended, it feels like spiritual bypassing, it's a little trite. But then they go oh, they realize you're a little offended. They go oh, I'm so sorry. I thought you knew. I actually have pancreatic cancer. It's currently in remission, but I will most likely die from it because it's almost always terminal. Now you hear the God is good, with a new weight and you have a new hope. Why? Because that person stands in front of you as a proof of concept that God can still be good, even in a cancer diagnosis.
Speaker 2:That's what Paul's talking about here, what you've learned and received and heard and seen in me. Practice these things. You need embodied examples of disciples of Jesus apprenticing themselves to Jesus in all of life. That's one of the only ways you can really learn contentment. Let me tell you a story of a modicum of contentment that I've grown into. You ready. Last week, last weekend, somebody gave me this incredible gift for my kiddos, but it was one of those some assembly required type things.
Speaker 2:And if you ever want to see me in full-blown insecurities, just ask me to build or fix something Like listen, I've got my lanes, I've got my sweet spots, I know right where they are. Building something in my backyard is not in that lane. And so I am on hour four of a five-hour project and I'm just tightening the bolts, the nuts around this bolt and I'm almost done and I over-tighten it and snap the bolt off and in that moment I'm filled with just a, I mean this embodied rage, just like but there's, if I'm not careful, that can slip into self-contempt, like you, idiot, anybody else do that. And so I go into my shed to see if I have any other bolts that'll match this one. I don't. And as I'm looking through my toolbox I have a toolbox, but it was given to me as I'm looking through my toolbox, this thought comes into my mind, a memory I literally have not thought about for seven years probably. And in my but in the Holy Spirit, to be honest, this is what comes into my mind A man named Roger Shepard is he's kind of the Gandalf of counseling in Central Florida, that's.
Speaker 2:You gotta get that in your mind. He was my supervisor for a few years and one of the things Roger did is he told me this story. He told me this story about how he's learning to experience the father's love for him in everyday life. And he was in a parking spot and he put his car in reverse and he backed out of the parking spot, went to go put it in drive and the transmission broke and he said you know what my first thought was in that moment? I was like I've got some ideas. He said, father, I wonder how you're going to show me your love in this. What, like? Couldn't you show me your love before I backed out of the parking spot? That would have been great.
Speaker 2:And so that story comes back to my mind haven't thought about it in almost a decade comes back into my mind and I think that's what contentment looks like in every, in any situation. And I, in the moment, just prayed Father, how are you going to show me your love in this? I'm learning. I told you, this is aspirational, not actual. That's where I started, but it was a moment of where I experienced the necessity of embodied examples of the life in Jesus that is on offer to us. And so Paul goes on in verse 11, if you look there with me not that I'm speaking of being in need, for I have this is number two of three learned in whatever situation I am to be content, I know how to be brought low and I know how to abound. This is the second of third times he says learned, you see, because contentment is not learned in a single crisis.
Speaker 2:Contentment is learned through the exposure to what he calls times of need and times of plenty. You kind of need that up and down nature of things. In other words, to grow in contentment you need to be enrolled in both the school of need and the school of plenty, and each of them have their own tests. In the school of plenty, here's the test. Like when life is good? Here's the test.
Speaker 2:Will you deny God because you don't really need him? In the school of need, here's the test. Will you despair of God because you don't really see him? Despair of God because you don't really see him? And so Paul's inviting us into these schools. You know, a sommelier is able to tell if a wine has experienced hot summers and cold winters just by the taste of the vintage. Does your life exhibit a sweetening or a souring through the ups and downs that you've experienced? And so Paul goes on in verse 12, I know how to be brought low and I know how to abound. Let's ask him the question. This is what I think, paul how do we abound? Teach us the way. Here's what I think it would look like. You use God's gifts as signs that point beyond themselves to the giver of those gifts and you express gratitude. Let me tell you a story about that.
Speaker 2:Growing up in Detroit, michigan, you get really sick of eight months of gray doom and gloom cold, and so every Easter break we would make our way down road trip from Detroit to St Petersburg on the Gulf Coast of Florida. And my sister and I would do this thing where, when we got to the state sign of Florida, we would crawl over our moms and dads and we would we only have one of each and we would reach. We would reach to the front of the dashboard to see who could get to Florida first. I was smaller most of my life, so I always won. I could like fit up in the dashboard, basically, and so. But imagine this. Imagine if we stopped Parents pulled over, we'd get in front Self and so. But imagine this. Imagine if we stopped Parents pulled over, we get in front. Selfies weren't a thing then, because I grew up in the late 1900s and we just get in front of that sign and we take a selfie in front of the Welcome to Florida sign and then we get in the car and drive back to Detroit. How silly would that be?
Speaker 2:That's what happens when you enjoy good gifts from God and you don't recognize that they're simply signs that point beyond themselves to the good giver. That's how you abound Contentment in abounding. How do you be brought low? What does contentment, when you're brought low, look like? Listen, if somebody came up to me and said, hey, listen, I need to cut you, burn you and poison you, I would say can you take a few steps back? I don't really want you near me right now. They go oh, I'm so sorry. I'm an oncologist and I just was looking at your lab reports and you desperately need chemotherapy and surgery and radiation in order for you to be well. I would go okay, I'll surrender. I'll surrender to that regimen.
Speaker 2:Listen, when we are brought low, we have to recognize that God has brought us low in many times not every time, but in many times because he is offering us a wise therapy for a soul cancer in our life. And so, listen, pour out your heart before him. Psalm 62, verse eight. And so another way to say that is we ought to mournn but never murmur. We ought to groan but never grumble. Learn the language of lament but do not complain. Anything other than that is sin. I'm promising you that right now.
Speaker 2:But you see the nuance here. Bring your complaints before a holy God, tell him. Psalm 74 says take your hands out of your pockets and do something. You can talk to God like that when you're discontent. Psalms give you permission, but don't murmur or grumble. God killed off a lot of Israelites for that stuff.
Speaker 2:He takes it really seriously. Why? Because it impinges upon his character. It says you are not good or wise or in control. But we tolerate it because it's just venting. It's not just venting. Bring your groaning, bring your mourning, bring your lamenting before the face of God. Do it with other people, invite them into it. That's totally good. That's what God asks of you. But beware, johnny Erickson Tata, one of the longest living quadriplegics on record, says this God allows what he hates in order to accomplish what he loves. And so that's why Paul can say in verse 12, in any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. This is the third time he uses the word learned, but it's actually a different word from the other two times. This word quote learned the secret actually comes from Greek mystery religions to describe people who had worked their way through various lower degrees up to a higher degree, to where they were permitted into the full use, the full possession of the quote mystery itself. Paul grasped the mystery, but not because he leveled up, but because the mystery came down.
Speaker 2:Listen, there's two false gospels in discontentment. The first one says either the problem why you don't have what you want is because you need to work harder, do better, be better, but if you had that, you'd get what you deserve. Right, the problem is twofold what if you can't do more? Or what if you've done all that you can do and you still aren't content? What do you do then? Well, the second false gospel, the one that's maybe more clear for religious people, is some version of God is perpetually unfair to you and you've just been dealt a difficult hand. And so, yeah, you might be a Christian, you might profess faith, but underneath there's this seething contempt because God is not giving you what you want, because the thing that you want is your true God. He wouldn't be so cruel. And so, for the Christian, you don't have to work harder and you don't have to wonder if God's holding out on you. Why? Because the mystery came down. Look at verse 13. This is where he culminates and concludes the whole thing. I can do all things through him. Who strengthens me?
Speaker 2:Clearly, paul played football at a Christian high school. Like, where else would he learn that passage? Because his team played against the other Christian high school and both teams had that on their shirt and both teams were claiming that promise to like, tackle the other team. Right, I'm being cheeky, but listen, imagine this. Imagine some senior night for this star athlete, high school quarterback, and there's scouts and recruiters from the colleges, the universities in his hometown and places he wants to go and he knows his performance really matters and he's at a Christian high school. So he claims this promise, right? And he's like I'm just going to get out there, I'm going to play my best game ever, and then he gets a career-ending injury on the field.
Speaker 2:Some of you are like this is Friday Night Lights, it is Okay, just bear with me. Career-ending injury that is what Paul is talking about. What do you do then? Then can you do all things through him. Who strengthens you Then? How do you respond? How do you react? What does that look like?
Speaker 2:You see, the Philippians would have known this language of I can do all things because it was familiar to them, because this came straight from Stoicism or Buddhism in the East, Because self-sufficiency was the means to contentment. If you want a popular psychology version of this on Instagram, it's quote you are enough, you are enough, just affirm yourself. In that, paul says it's not going to work. But stoicism is a big deal by sheer numbers. There are probably more stoics alive today than in the history of humanity, partly due to a guy named Ryan Holiday who has a book called the Daily Stoic. And I was just, you know, kind of lucky with the May 5th thing with this. I was like trying my luck on the Daily Stoic. So I read May 5th's entry from the Daily Stoic and this is what it said. The title was quote you are the project. That seems fitting to that worldview.
Speaker 2:And what does Paul do? He takes self-sufficiency and he judos it into Christ's sufficiency. That's essentially what he's doing here. Paul takes this and he flips it on his head I can do all things through self-sufficiency would have been an easy stoic motto, and a secular motto for that matter. And Paul says I can do all things through him, who strengthens me.
Speaker 2:You see, the secret to contentment is not getting what you want, but wanting what you get. And you have everything if you have Jesus. That's what Paul's saying here. If you have Jesus, you have everything. And so the secret of contentment really is found in putting into empirical, testable practice the fact that Jesus is enough even in the highs, even in the lows. That's the invitation of this text.
Speaker 2:The secret of contentment is being more preoccupied with Jesus than your circumstances. The secret of contentment is to meditate daily about all that you have in Jesus, not all that you lack in your life. The secret of contentment is to know that Jesus is enough for you. Now listen, if you're in this room and you don't know Jesus, I think it's actually not a bad idea to distract yourself from your life. Live it up, have a good time, go out, be with friends, binge social media or Netflix or whatever you gotta do, because if you can just get your mind off of things, that's probably gonna make it a little bit better.
Speaker 2:But if you are in Christ, think, consider, meditate, ponder the fact that all that you need is already wrapped up in the person of Jesus Christ and you have him and therefore you have everything. That's why the secret of contentment is not in getting what you want, but in wanting what you have and what you have in Jesus. And so Jesus, the one who was high, came low. For you, jesus, the one who lived in the palace had no place to lay his head. For you, jesus, who had plenty hunger and thirsted. For you, jesus, who had abundance, no felt needs, came down so that you could have all in him. You see, the way that Paul talks about Jesus in Colossians is that in him are all of the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. Everything holds together in Jesus. In Jesus, the whole fullness, the fullness of God dwells bodily.
Speaker 2:So I asked the question earlier, like what is enough? The question of John D Rockefeller what is enough for you? How about starting with the whole fullness of God? Is that enough? Well, over the month of May, let's lean in, let's quote, learn together the secret of contentment, this open secret, this public secret that Jesus is enough in any and every circumstance.
Speaker 2:Let's pray, father, we pause now and acknowledge the reality that people in this room are suffering, they're struggling deeply and you don't burn past that. In fact, you slow down. Psalms say, you take our tears and put them in a bottle. You acknowledge our pain, you know our lack. I'm praying even now. Holy Spirit, would you apply the good news of all that Jesus is for my brothers and sisters, for myself, in this very moment. Show us that Jesus is enough. Pray in his name, amen.
Speaker 2:We want to now respond, and so, in this prayer of response, I just want to ask you one question and then ask you to do one thing. The question is this, the question I asked earlier what do you think you need in order to be content? If you need help, ask the Holy Spirit. He searches us and knows us. What do I think I need in order to be content? See what he tells you, and then I want to invite you to tell that to Jesus. Just be honest with him. Cs Lewis says the prayer that precedes all prayer is may it be the real I who speaks, and may it be the real you to whom I speak. Just bring the real you to the table. He'll sit down and have a conversation with you there and then have a meal with you there. And so come now, ask yourself, ask the Lord that question what do I think I need in order to be content? And then bring that to Jesus and ask him to satisfy you.