The Good Life // The Rare Jewel of Contentment // Jason King // July 21, 2024

Faith

The Good Life // The Rare Jewel of Contentment

Philippians 4:10-15 (NIV)

“I rejoiced greatly in the Lord that at last you renewed your concern for me. Indeed, you were concerned, but you had no opportunity to show it. I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have 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 have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do all this through him who gives me strength.

Yet it was good of you to share in my troubles. Moreover, as you Philippians know, in the early days of your acquaintance with the gospel, when I set out from Macedonia, not one church shared with me in the matter of giving and receiving, except you only”

1. Christian contentment is not determined by your circumstances.

2. Christian contentment is learned.

Philippians 4:11 (NIV)

“I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances.”

1 Corinthians 4:11-12 (ESV)
“To the present hour we hunger and thirst, we are poorly dressed and buffeted and homeless, and we labor, working with our own hands.”

2 Corinthians 6:4-5 (ESV)
“…by great endurance, in afflictions, hardships, calamities, beatings, imprisonments, riots, labors, sleepless nights, hunger…”

2 Corinthians 11:25-27 (NIV)
“Three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea, I have been constantly on the move. I have 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 have labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food; I have been cold and naked.”

Proverbs 30:7-9 (NIV)

“Two things I ask of you, Lord;
do not refuse me before I die:

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.”

3. The source of true contentment is found in our union with and dependence on Christ.

Philippians 4:12 (NIV)

“I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.”

Philippians 4:13 (NIV)

“I can do all this through him who gives me strength.”