Philippians - Contentment Through Trouble
I post on Social Media quite often.
You can find me on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. If you follow me, you know that I post pictures of my family, travel highlights, and of course, food and restaurants.
I want to confess something to you: If you follow me on social media, you will not see the REAL Donahue family. You will not see my arguments with my wife, frustrations with people, posts about messing up with my kids…or when the kids are driving me crazy.
I may provide a tiny glimpse occasionally, but mostly I stay away from that side of me…and…people like me are the problem with social media!
Week after week, I see people “taking a break from Social Media” because they look at our posts, compare themselves to the image we portray, and think, “I give up. I’m never going to have it all together.”
We will feel dissatisfied with life, never feel like we measure up to the world's expectations of us, and ultimately, we will never be content.
As Paul wrote this letter, he was chained up, under house arrest, with Roman Guards standing over him. He was poorly clothed, rarely bathed, and had meager food rations to sustain him. But we would never guess Paul lived in those conditions for two years because he seemed so happy and content when he wrote this letter.
Today, we learn the secret of Paul’s strength. We learn how the apostle Paul was able to strengthen, instruct, and encourage the church in Philippi even while he was imprisoned, confined, and lived in meager conditions.
At this point in Philippians 4, Paul begins to express his gratitude for a financial gift that the church had sent to help provide for him. He knew they were concerned about him, and they showed a willingness to help him by collecting an offering from the church and sending it to Paul.
Let’s read.
Philippians 4:10-13 (NLT2)
10 How I praise the Lord that you are concerned about me again. I know you have always been concerned for me, but you didn’t have the chance to help me. 11 Not that I was ever in need, for I have learned how to be content with whatever I have. 12 I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything. I have learned the secret of living in every situation, whether it is with a full stomach or empty, with plenty or little. 13 For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength.
As Paul began to thank the Philippians for the gift they sent (we can assume it was a financial gift, clothes, or even food). First, he acknowledged that they had always been concerned about him, but they had not yet had an opportunity to show their concern…until he was placed under house arrest. If you are a part of a Lifegroup, maybe you have experienced something similar. Maybe somebody in your life group had a baby. You may throw a baby shower for them…or sign up to help with a meal train.
You were always concerned about them, but you only showed concern when they had a need. But Paul wrote from a slightly different perspective. Paul worked with his hands for a living. As he traveled and shared Jesus's Life-Changing message, he worked wherever he went to earn a living.
Acts 18:3 (NLT2)
3 Paul lived and worked with them, for they were tentmakers just as he was.
Paul never charged churches for his services. He supported himself. He never wanted to be accused of preaching about Jesus for profit. So he worked with his hands wherever he went. But now that Paul was under house arrest, he could not work to earn a living. He had no source of income…and to add insult to injury, Rome forced him to stay under house arrest—in an apartment that Paul had to pay for. Any money he had went toward paying rent to keep him in prison.
Paul was BROKE.
Paul wrote this thank you from the perspective that even though he was in need (the word means poverty), he was still ok…because he learned the SECRET of being content in any and every situation:
HAVE I LEARNED TO BE CONTENT?
Are you okay with having nothing?
Would you be okay without food, clothing, or shelter?
Paul said he has learned to be content with nothing or with everything. Whether his table was filled with delicious food or he went without, Paul was content. I love my wife, Kristy. She is a teacher, and she is amazing. But if she doesn’t stop to get a bite to eat on her way home, she comes home HANGRY.
Irritable. Frowny. She is not content – at all. I get like that, too. When I haven’t eaten in a while, I get HANGRY, too.
And when the two of us are Hangry simultaneously – look out, Donahue children! Unless they are all hangry – and then it's pandemonium!
Yet – God desires that you and I learn to be content with little or a lot. We must understand some biblical principles to learn the secret of being content. The first thing necessary to understand is that…
GOD IS SOVEREIGN
The Bible calls Solomon the wisest person that ever lived. Since the Bible describes Solomon that way – I will not argue with it. Listen to how the wisest man on the earth described the work of God:
Ecclesiastes 3:14 (NKJV)
14 I know that whatever God does, It shall be forever. Nothing can be added to it, And nothing taken from it. God does it, that men should fear before Him.
Whatever God desires to do, he will do. I can never add anything to what God does. What He does is so good that I could never make it better. God has the power, wisdom, and authority to do anything He chooses within His creation. God is concerned about your character. The difficult things he has allowed to come into your life are to sharpen you and develop your character.
Paul understood the sovereignty of God.
He understood that God loved him and that even though he was under house arrest for telling others about Jesus, God allowed his arrest to happen for Paul’s benefit. If you want to learn to be content, you have to trust that God is Sovereign. Also, along those same lines, if you want to become content, you have to understand that…
GOD IS UNSTOPPABLE
There was a man named Job in the Old Testament. Job was a man blessed beyond measure. He had children who loved him, livestock, fields, and land. His posts on social media would embarrass all of us. He was blessed beyond measure. He worshipped God, and God blessed him.
So, one day, Satan boasted to God that people on the earth were faithless. God asked him, “Have you considered my servant Job?” Satan said, “He is only faithful because you protect and bless Him. Remove your protection, and I will show you he will turn on you, too.”
So, God removed his protection from Job, and Satan destroyed everything. His children, his cattle, his crop. He had painful and infectious sores pop up all over his body…
Everything Job loved was taken from him. Now that I think about it…the Devil attacked Job, wiped out everything, but left his wife. That sounds intentional.
And, if you wanted to “Amen” that comment…We are kicking off a Marriage Series in two weeks. “When I said I Do.” We will examine the covenant we made with our spouses and end the series by giving you an opportunity to get all gussied up, stand at the end of the service, and renew your Marriage Vows.
God removed his blessing of protection on Job, and Job’s blessings and health disappeared. Rather than blaming God. Rather than becoming like the rest of the faithless people. Rather than cursing God.
This is what Job said about God:
Job 9:12 (NKJV)
12 If He takes away, who can hinder Him? Who can say to Him, 'What are You doing?'
In other words, If God will allow something I love and hold dear to be taken away from my life, I cannot stop him.
Whining does not help.
Crying about it does not help.
A pity party about my troubles does not help.
If you want to learn to be content, you must accept that God is UNSTOPPABLE, and to learn to be content…
ACCEPT THAT LIFE IS HARD
The third passage that has helped me to learn to be content is from the Apostle Paul. As we looked at last week, Paul described some of the hardships he faced as a follower of Jesus.
He wrote this:
2 Corinthians 11:24-27 (NLT2)
24 Five different times the Jewish leaders gave me thirty-nine lashes. 25 Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked. Once I spent a whole night and a day adrift at sea. 26 I have traveled on many long journeys. I have faced danger from rivers and from robbers. I have faced danger from my own people, the Jews, as well as from the Gentiles. I have faced danger in the cities, in the deserts, and on the seas. And I have faced danger from men who claim to be believers but are not. 27 I have worked hard and long, enduring many sleepless nights. I have been hungry and thirsty and have often gone without food. I have shivered in the cold, without enough clothing to keep me warm.
Regardless of the challenges I have faced in life – nothing compares to what Paul experienced.
An alcoholic, abusive father raised me. He did unspeakable things to me. One night, he was drunk, grabbed my mom by her hair, and swung her around the house.I went to a shelter for battered and abused families. I was placed in an adolescent psychiatric hospital…
But nothing compares to the hardship Paul experienced. And Paul had all that stuff happen to him AFTER HE BECAME a follower of Jesus!
If your life has grown more complicated since you became a follower of Jesus, it may be because the devil is trying to destroy your faith like he tried to do to Job. If you want to learn to be content, you must accept that life is hard. But the hard will be good for you.
Paul wrote in his letter to the church in Rome:
Romans 8:28 (NLT2)
28 … God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.
Even if something evil happens to you, if you love God and lead people to a relationship with God, He will redeem the bad for good. God will take the terrible and make it terrific.
BECAUSE…
THE SECRET TO STRENGTH IS CONTENTMENT IN CHRIST
Philippians 4:12-13 (NLT2)
12 I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything. I have learned the secret of living in every situation, whether it is with a full stomach or empty, with plenty or little. 13 For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength.
If you can begin to TRUST the CHARACTER and the HEART of GOD.
If you can begin to trust in his Sovereign Love for you.
If you want to be able to withstand anything that comes against you…
If you want to walk through fire and not be burned…
You must trust that real strength is found through CONTENTMENT in CHRIST.
It's okay not to be OK.
You and I are never going to be perfect.
Your spouse will never be perfect.
Your children will never be perfect.
Your life will be filled with complex challenges.
But don’t throw in the towel on your trust in God. Don’t give up on your relationship with Jesus.
When life gets hard, consider the hardship Paul experienced BECAUSE he was a follower of Jesus.
Paul remained content because JESUS was living inside him, giving him strength.
God is SOVEREIGN.
God is UNSTOPPABLE.
Life is HARD –
But GOD will never allow anything to happen to you that could separate you from his LOVING PRESENCE – and even the bad stuff that happens can turn out for GOOD. Maybe you have not yet surrendered your life to Jesus. Perhaps you have not yet turned your life over to God and asked Him to forgive your sin. You can right now.