We can ALWAYS be content through Christ.

Sermon Transcript

PASTORAL PRAYER FOR FATHER’S DAY – Adapted From Bob Kauflin

You may be seated. Happy Father’s Day. Given the fact that our Savior’s favorite name for God is “Father,” it’s an immense privilege to be a dad. Dads, in a world that so often marginalizes and belittles masculine strength, we honor you for the way that you humbly follow the Savior, selflessly love your wives and children, and sacrificially serve as spiritual fathers in our church. This morning it’s my privilege to pray for you (adapted from Bob Kauflin).

Our Father in heaven, on this day when fathers are being remembered and honored throughout the world, we first honor You, the Father from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named. Your word says…

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places…In love 5 he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will…” (Ephesians 1:3, 5)

“See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are.” (1 John 3:1, ESV)

How amazing. We acknowledge that apart from Jesus Christ, we could only fall back in fear at the thought of approaching a God so holy, righteous, and just. But your Word says we did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but we have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” (Romans 8:15)

Because the sinless Savior died, our sinful souls are counted free. Our debt has been paid. We are no longer your enemies, but dearly loved children. Enable all those who have trusted in the atoning death and bodily resurrection of Jesus to experience you as our Heavenly Father today.

Father, we thank you for the fathers among us: soon to be fathers, young fathers, middle age fathers, old fathers, and grandfathers. Thank you for their sacrifices and their desire to reflect your heart to their children. We praise you for the Citylight Church who selflessly and imperfectly represent You to their children. They are a gift from you. Make them aware of the privilege, gift, and responsibility of fatherhood. Cause them not to provoke their children to anger, but to delight in their children, teach them wisdom & godliness, and discipline their children with the great love of consistency. Fill those who are weary with fresh strength for the task. May they know your Spirit’s power in their weakness.

Heavenly Father, we thank you for our fathers, whom You specifically chose for us, whether by natural birth or adoption. For those who had good fathers, we thank you for their example, their care, their counsel, their presence in our lives. May we honor them appropriately through our words and deeds.

For those who don’t have good memories of their fathers we pray they would be strengthened with power through your Spirit in their inner being, so that Christ may dwell in their hearts through faith—that they would know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge. We pray for patience to understand, mercy to forgive, and courage to stand fast in the truth of the gospel.

For those fathers who are estranged from a child or children, or anyone who is unreconciled with their own father, would you bring to pass this promise in Malachi 4:6: ‘And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers.‘

For those who have never known their father, may they be more aware than ever that you are the ‘Father of the fatherless’ and that nothing in all creation will be able to separate us from your love in Christ Jesus our Lord.

For those who long to be fathers, but have yet to be granted that gift. Comfort them with your endless supply of mercy and care. Please grant them the desires of their hearts.

Jesus, thank you that you assured us of our heavenly Father’s care when you said, “Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?’” (Matthew 6:26). In Jesus name, Amen.

Welcome up Walter.

SERIES INTRODUCTION (Series Graphic)

This morning we are continuing our sermon series Better Than We Think. If you’re new to Citylight Church, we typically preach through books of the Bible on Sunday mornings, but during this series we’re doing something a little different. During this series, we are doing a deep dive into what we call “bumper sticker” verses. We are slowing down and taking a close look at some of the most beloved, most popular verses in all the Bible, and as we do, we are learning that these verses are Better Than We Think. This morning we are continuing the Better Than We Think series with probably the most beloved Bible verse among professional athletes: Philippians 4:13. Please turn with me in your Bible to Philippians 4:13 on page 923.

Philippians 4:13 – I can do all things through him who strengthens me.

INTRODUCTION

I want to talk to you this morning about contentment; about contentment. I want to talk to you about contentment because discontentment is at the root of most of our sinful actions and negative emotions. Discontentment is a problem that is as old as Adam and Eve, and the Garden of Eden. Adam and Eve were discontent. They would not be pleased with their life with God in the Garden paradise, they ached over what they could not have, the fruit that God had forbidden, and as a result they were willing to rebel against God in order to have it. They were discontent and the cosmos has never been the same. I want to talk to you about contentment because discontentment is at the root of most of our sinful actions and negative emotions, and yet contentment is the rare jewel and privilege of every follower of Christ. And I want to talk to you about content because contentment is what Philippians 4:13 is actually all about. Of course, if we see Philippians 4:13 on a bumper sticker or tattooed on our favorite athlete, it’s perfectly natural to conclude that Philippians 4:13 means we can hit home runs, score touchdowns, accomplish goals, land promotions and overcome obstacles through Christ who strengthens us. We might think that, but Philippians 4:13 is even better than we think! And we see that when we look at Philippians 4:13 in its context.

Philippians 4:10-13 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. When Paul writes “concern” he’s talking about financial partnership in the gospel. The Philippian church was one of the earliest financial supporters of Paul’s preaching and church planting ministry. Recently they revived their financial support of Paul, and Paul is rejoicing in the Lord over it. However, Paul doesn’t want the Philippians to think he was discontent when they weren’t financially supporting him. 11 Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. Paul may have been in financial need, but he wasn’t truly in need because he had learned in whatever situation to be content, even situations of financial need. In verse 12, Paul expands on the idea that he learned in whatever situation 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. Philippians 4:13 really is better than we think. Paul learned to do and experience all things, all circumstances, with contentment through Christ who strengthened him. And that’s not just for Paul. Contentment is the privilege of every disciple of Jesus. That brings us to the big idea of our passage: We can always be content through Christ. We can always be content through Christ. This big idea raises two questions that we’re going to explore together this morning: 1. What is contentment? 2. What is the secret? What is contentment and what is the secret, since Paul says that he learned the secret to facing plenty and hunger with contentment? Now, before we dig into these two questions, I want to say two personal things. First, nearly everything I’ve learned about what the Bible says about contentment and nearly everything I’ll say this morning is directly from or influenced by The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment, a book written by a puritan pastor named Jeremiah Burroughs, published in 1657. Second, this sermon is very personal to me. I struggle deeply with the sin of discontentment and long to experience more of the rare jewel of Christian contentment. Additionally, the Lord has led my family into a uniquely challenging season and we are needing to learn contentment through Christ again. I’m not preaching to you, but to us.

WHAT IS CONTENTMENT?

Let’s begin with Jeremiah Burroughs definition of Christian contentment because it’s the best I’ve ever read: “Christian contentment is that sweet, inward, quiet, gracious frame of spirit, which freely submits to and delights in God’s wise and fatherly disposal in every condition.”

We are going to leave this definition on the screen for a bit as we learn what contentment is. The first thing we learn from our definition is that contentment is an inward thing. An inward thing. Some people by sheer personality are naturally outwardly calm or quiet, almost stoic. That’s not Christian contentment because Christian contentment is an inward thing. Christian contentment isn’t being outwardly quiet while you have a storm swirling on the inside because Christian contentment is an inward, quiet heart in all circumstances. Example: golf cart not working (Psalm 131). The second thing we learn is that Christian contentment is a sweet, quiet, gracious attitude. Christian contentment is a non-complaining or murmuring attitude that radiates outward from a heart that is quiet in the Lord’s arms, whether we experience abundance or need. As Jeremiah Burroughs says, “Now I say that contentment is a quiet frame of spirit and by that I mean that you should find men and women in a good mood not only at this or that time, but as the constant tenor and temper of their hearts.” The third thing we learn is that contentment is an attitude that results from both submitting to and delighting in God’s fatherly disposition or will. The inward quiet, peace and good mood that characterizes the content Christian is the result of learning to submit to and delight in God’s wise, fatherly will. Contentment comes as we learn to submit to God, making God’s will our will. Discontentment is when our hearts rise up above God and in our words or bad attitude tell him how to run our life. Contentment is learning to not rise up against God’s will, but to quietly get under it and submit our will to God’s because He is sovereign, not us. He is God, not us. Example: Church transience. But contentment is more than submitting to God’s will, it’s delighting in it by trusting that God’s will for my life is actually the wisest will. That brings me to some words from Jeremiah Burroughs that mean the world to me. To be well pleased with God’s hand is a higher degree than the previous one. It comes from this: not only do I see that I should be content in this affliction, but I see that there is good in it. I find there is honey in this rock, and so I do not only say, I must, or I will submit to God’s hand. No, the hand of God is good, ‘it is good that I am afflicted!’ “…In his submission, he sees his sovereignty, but what makes him take pleasure is God’s wisdom. The Lord knows how to order things better than I. The Lord sees further than I do; I only see things at present but the Lord sees a great while from now. And how do I know but that had it not been for this affliction, I should have been undone.” Example: Depression. The final thing we learn is that Christian contentment is for every condition. We can always be content through Christ. The key to contentment in every situation is the first line in the Lord’s Prayer: Our Father in Heaven, hallowed be your name. Praising God’s name in every situation is the way to delight in his will in all situations. It’s not easy to be content in Christ in great seasons because it can be hard to hear His voice in great seasons. C.S. Lewis used to say that God whispers to us in our good times but shouts to us in our bad. Contentment is praising and blessing God’s name for every good thing you’re experiencing, tracing the sunbeam back to the Son, its source. That’s how you can, with Paul, face “plenty.” Example: great Saturday. And the same principle holds true for facing not abundance but need. When you’re in need to you don’t rebel or rise up against God, you’re quiet and you delight by blessing him for every good thing you can see that he’s doing or may do that you don’t see through your affliction. By praising and thanking God in all things you can always be content in his wise, fatherly way in your life.

Before we turn from what contentment is to the secret of contentment, I want to mention a few things true Christian contentment isn’t opposed to. First, Christian contentment is not opposed to feeling afflicted. The whole point of contentment is that it’s a quiet gracious frame of spirit that delights in God in the midst of feeling afflicted. Christian contentment isn’t opposed to feeling afflicted. Second, Christian contentment is not opposed to reasonably complaining to God and our friends. Christian contentment isn’t opposed to crying out to God for comfort and change, nor is contentment opposed to communicating your afflictions to a Christian friend for the express purpose of receiving an encouraging word of comfort from them. Third, Christian contentment is not opposed to using biblical means to be delivered from present afflictions. You can be quiet under the trials God brings and delight in his Fatherly disposal in all things, while using all biblical means available to be delivered from afflictions. If singleness is a trial, it’s no sign of discontentment to ask a godly woman on a date. If infertility is a trial, it’s no sign of discontentment to consult a fertility doctor.

“Christian contentment is that sweet, inward, quiet, gracious frame of spirit, which freely submits to and delights in God’s wise and fatherly disposal in every condition.”

WHAT IS THE SECRET?

Paul said that he learned the secret to face plenty and hunger, abundance and need with contentment. What is the secret? We find it when we turn back one chapter to Philippians 3. Let’s discover the secret by reading from Philippians 3:4-8. “…If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more: 5 circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; 6 as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless. 7 But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. 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

The secret to be content is Christ. You see, the Greek word translated “content” means “self-sufficient.” Of course, we aren’t self-sufficient, but we are satisfied in the all-sufficiency of Christ in all things. Christ is the secret of contentment. The secret to facing abundance and need with contentment is facing them all with Christ himself. The secret to contentment always is knowing him, interacting with him, leaning on him, blessing and praising Him when you face both plenty and hunger, abundance and need. The Christ life is the content life. He is the secret.

As you learn daily, even moment-by-moment dependence on Christ, he strengthens you over time into an increasingly content person. He gives you the strength you need to rejoice in the Lord today, and tomorrow will require new morning mercies. How does Christ strengthen us to be content? In other words, how is Christ the secret? Three ways:

Christ is our friend. One of the most revolutionary things that the Lord Jesus Christ ever said is that he doesn’t call us, his disciples, servants but friends (John 15:15). Outside of my wife, my best friend in the world is a man named Jeremy Hart. Having Jeremy as my best friend helps me face the challenges and experience the joys of life with greater contentment because he is there to talk to, there to provide encouragement, there to correct me, there to bounce ideas off, there to get wisdom, and there to help. Citylight – the Lord Jesus Christ made Jeremy Hart. The Lord Jesus is always there, the Lord Jesus really knows what is going on, the Lord Jesus’ wisdom is perfect, and His friendship has unbridled power and comfort. Christ is the secret to contentment in all things because he is our friend in all things. He strengthens us to rejoice in the Lord rather than complain and rebel today, and promises fresh morning mercies for tomorrow.
Christ makes this world rubbish. Discontentment is the result of either wanting the wrong things or letting our good desires become demands. Sex is a great example of this. When the good desire for sex becomes a demand, then I’m willing to disobey God to get it and I’ll never have enough of it. I’ll always be discontent because I’ll always be demanding more, different, better, etc. But Christ is the secret of contentment because he strengthens us to count this world as rubbish compared to knowing Him. We may not have the sex, the career, the marriage, the clothes, the body, or the vacations we want, but Christ teaches us to count this world rubbish in order that we might know Him and be truly content. Much of our discontentment is born out of worldliness, but through Christ we are dead to this world and truly alive to Him. But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me and I to the world. (Gal. 6:14)
Christ makes God our Father. Ask boldly; surrender completely. When embrace Jesus Christ as our only hope in life and in death, we receive the wonderful experience of adoption; adoption. God the Father becomes our adopted Father. And our Father is as compassionate as he is capable. Our Father is the one who plans every detail of our lives, therefore, we can submit to his will and be content. Our Father plans our days with perfect wisdom, so we can delight in both the abundance and the need because they’re part of our Father’s wise plan. We don’t always understand his ways. My children don’t always understand everything Andrea and I do for their good. But we delight in all circumstances because we know his wisdom rules it all. And since He is our Father, we can ask him anything in the name of Christ. We can always praise Him and thank Him in all things and we can ask Him to grant our desires and change our afflictions, while still completely surrendering. Ask! He is your Father. He will either give you what you ask for or what you would have asked for if you knew everything he knows. And with God as your Father, you can be quiet and surrendered. You can be content in all things. When affliction comes, you can be still, know that He is God, and follow His lead in the midst of it.

CONCLUSION

“Christian contentment is that sweet, inward, quiet, gracious frame of spirit, which freely submits to and delights in God’s wise and fatherly disposal in every condition.”

Take everyone to eternity promised in Christ, which makes us content now.