Until we realize that Christ is all we have, we’ll never recognize that Christ is all we need.
Sermon Title: CONTENTMENT, A RARE JEWEL
Sermon Text: PHILIPPIANS 4:10-23 (ESV)
Sermon Series: PHILIPPIANS: FINDING JOY IN THE JOURNEY
By: PTR NESTOR SY
Sermon Notes:
PHILIPPIANS 4:10-23 ESV
10 I rejoiced in the Lord greatly that now at length you have revived your concern for me. You were indeed concerned for me, but you had no opportunity. 11 Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. 12 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. 13 I can do all things through him who strengthens me. 14 Yet it was kind of you to share my trouble. 15 And you Philippians yourselves know that in the beginning of the gospel, when I left Macedonia, no church entered into partnership with me in giving and receiving, except you only. 16 Even in Thessalonica you sent me help for my needs once and again. 17 Not that I seek the gift, but I seek the fruit that increases to your credit. 18 I have received full payment, and more. I am well supplied, having received from Epaphroditus the gifts you sent, a fragrant offering, a sacrifice acceptable and pleasing to God. 19 And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus. 20 To our God and Father be glory forever and ever. Amen. 21 Greet every saint in Christ Jesus. The brothers who are with me greet you. 22 All the saints greet you, especially those of Caesar’s household. 23 The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit.
“To be well skilled in the mystery of Christian contentment is the duty, glory, and excellence of a Christian.”
Jeremiah Burroughs, The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment
content | Gk: autarkés
“self-sufficient, independent, contained.”
I. CONTENTMENT IS UNRELATED TO OUR CIRCUMSTANCES (v. 12)
1 CORINTHIANS 4:11-13 ESV
11 To the present hour we hunger and thirst, we are poorly dressed and buffeted and homeless, 12 and we labor, working with our own hands. When reviled, we bless; when persecuted, we endure; 13 when slandered, we entreat. We have become, and are still, like the scum of the world, the refuse of all things.
2 CORINTHIANS 6:3-5 ESV
3 We put no obstacle in anyone’s way, so that no fault may be found with our ministry, 4 but as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: by great endurance, in afflictions, hardships, calamities, 5 beatings, imprisonments, riots, labors, sleepless nights, hunger;
1 TIMOTHY 6:6-10 ESV
6 But godliness with contentment is great gain, 7 for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world. 8 But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content.
JAMES 5:1-5 ESV
1 Come now, you rich, weep and howl for the miseries that are coming upon you. 2 Your riches have rotted and your garments are moth-eaten. 3 Your gold and silver have corroded, and their corrosion will be evidence against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have laid up treasure in the last days. 4 Behold, the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, are crying out against you, and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts. 5 You have lived on the earth in luxury and in self-indulgence. You have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter.
Contentment lies not in conquering your circumstances, but in thriving in the midst of them.
II. CONTENTMENT IS LEARNED (vv. 11-12)
“I will be happy when __________________.”
1. Avoid comparison
2 CORINTHIANS 10:12 ESV
12 Not that we dare to classify or compare ourselves with some of those who are commending themselves. But when they measure themselves by one another and compare themselves with one another, they are without understanding.
“The problem with comparison is it’s a game you can’t win.”
Larry Osborne
2. Cultivate gratitude
Envy is feeling bitter about God’s blessings in others’ lives while overlooking his blessings in your own.
Life is a series of thousands of tiny miracles. Let’s notice them and be thankful to God.
III. CONTNENTMENT IS ROOTED IN CHRIST (v.12-13)
The secret to contentment is not self-sufficiency, but Christ-sufficiency.
PHILIPPIANS 1:21 ESV
21 For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.
PHILIPPIANS 3:8 ESV
8 Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ
To be content in any and every situation is found not in having what we want, but in the recognizing Who we already have.
Until we realize that Christ is all we have, we’ll never recognize that Christ is all we need.
“The humble man is the contented man; …He thinks it is mercy he is out of hell, therefore he is contented. He doth not go to carve out a more happy condition to himself; he knows the worst piece God cuts him is better than he deserves.”
Thomas Watson
PSALMS 73:25-26 ESV
25 Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you. 26 My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.