Over 100 years ago, J.C. Ryle wrote these words: “Two things are said to be very rare sights in the world—one is a young man humble, and the other is an old man content. I fear this saying is only too true” (Thoughts for Young Men, 1865). About 400 years ago, the Puritan writer Jeremiah Burroughs wrote of the “rare jewel” of Christian contentment. If contentment was rare over 100 years ago in Ryle's day, and if contentment was rare 400 years ago in Burroughs day, I fear that it is perhaps more rare in our day today. In fact, several years back a writer by the name of Gregg Easterbrook wrote a book called The Progress Paradox: How Life Gets Better While People Feel Worse. In that book, Easterbrook points out that while life has improved on many levels, yet every study shows us that people are less happy and more discontent.

Our world is a world of tremendous change. That creates in us an uneasy sense, a sense of anxiety, and a sense of discontent. We move from place to place; we change jobs often; we change churches often; we change spouses often (if the statistics are right). It is a world of change. We live in a world in which we are bombarded by things that seek to make us more and more discontent. We have the Shopping Network; we have eBay; we have glitzy ads that tell us we are not going to be happy until we have that product. It is a world that breeds discontent in our hearts, a world that lures us after the things of the world. 

But really, ultimately the problem is not in these external things, though I believe Christians are probably better off not watching the Shopping Network. The problem is in the heart—the sinful human heart—which is, as Calvin called it, a continual idol-making factory.

A couple weeks ago in our sermon on the tenth commandment I quoted for you Nelson Rockefeller. When he was asked, “How much money does it take to make a person happy?” Rockefeller responded, “Just a little bit more.” And that is the way we think. If we only had a little bit more, or if we were only in a different situation in life, then we would find contentment. But the problem is that when we get that little more, and when we move from this situation to the next, our discontented heart unfortunately goes with us. The problem is not our situation; the problem is our heart. We constantly want what we cannot have. We believe it will make us happy and make us content.

What does the Apostle Paul present for us? He presents a picture of contentment in which he is content in any and every circumstance that he faces. Philippians really is in many ways all about contentment. In this short little book, the Apostle Paul uses 16 times either the verb ‘rejoice’ or the noun ‘joy’. And joy does not refer to some kind of happy face, “Smile God loves you,” or something like that. No, joy is a state of gladness and contentment that comes from knowing that God is in control. As the Apostle Paul presents here in Philippians, God is in control. So Paul has joy, and he tells the Philippians to rejoice.

And the amazing thing about this letter is that Paul wrote it from a Roman prison. If Paul can find contentment in a Roman prison, you and I can find contentment in the relatively less difficult situations in life! That is not to downplay the difficulty that we go through, and the difficulty and the struggle and the trouble that you may be going through right now. But very few of us, and very few Christians in the history of the Church, have faced what the Apostle Paul faced in his life and ministry. And yet, he learned to be content. I want us to see four great truths from this passage.

You Can Be Content⤒🔗

The first is this: You can be content. How do I know that? I know it because the Apostle Paul is content. He says, “I have learned to be content” (Philippians 4:11). “I am content.” You might be tempted to say, “Well the Apostle Paul was an apostle! He was a spiritual giant. He was a spiritual superstar. He can maybe attain that, but I can't.” What does Paul say here in verse thirteen? “I can do all things through him who strengthens me.” 

Now, sometimes this verse is ripped out of its context. Sometimes it is taken to mean things that it was not intended to mean. Sometimes it is used to persuade or coerce someone in the church who may not be gifted in a certain area to take on that position, because “You can do all things through God who strengthens you”—that is a misuse of that. This verse is not teaching that we can do anything because God strengthens us. No, it is a limited verse in context that applies to the acquisition of a specific Christian virtue. I can learn contentment—which itself is a nearly impossible task, isn't it? But Paul learned it. Why? Because God strengthens him.

You can learn it because God strengthens you. The same One who dwelt in Paul also dwells in all who believe. You can be content, as God strengthens us. You can attain it in times of need. In the midst of your chronic health problems, in the midst of that difficult job, in the midst of that difficult relationship, in the midst of that difficult period in your life, you can attain it. Because God strengthens you. We need to rely on the power of God. 

You Need to Learn Contentment←⤒🔗

The second thing we see in our passage this morning is that you need to learn contentment. Contentment must be learned. It must be studied. Two times in this passage Paul refers to learning contentment. Philippians 4:11: “I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content.” Philippians 4:12: “In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need.” We must learn it. God works in us, and yet there is human responsibility. Study it. Learn it.

Paul told the Philippians earlier in Philippians 2:12-13: “Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.” The fact that God works in us and empowers us does not mean we do not have any responsibility in this. We do! Study. Learn.

Paul actually uses two different Greek verbs for “learning.” The second one the ESV literally translates: “I have learned the secret.” It is actually a verb that relates to learning the mystery/secret; a verb that was sometimes used in the ancient mystery religions to refer to people being initiated in the truths of that religion. There were secret things they had to be initiated into. And that is not what Paul is referring to here. There are not “secret things” that we need initiation into.

Essentially what Paul is teaching us is two truths here. The first is that contentment does not come naturally. There is not a human being who naturally, in and of themselves, arrives at contentment. But the second truth here is that contentment, and how we achieve contentment, is contrary to our normal sinful ways of thinking. How we achieve it is contrary to the ways we normally think. It is contrary to the ways of the world. By the way, this is what Jeremiah Burroughs refers to as “the mystery of contentment,” and that is what I have titled this series: The Mystery of Contentment. We need to study it and learn it, because it is not natural.

We do not pursue it the way we would normally think; we do not pursue it according to the wisdom of the world. We pursue it according to the wisdom of God, and we have to think in terms of God's wisdom. What does the world say? What does worldly wisdom tell us? The world says if you are discontent and you are in a bad situation, you need to get out of that situation. That is how you find happiness. Get out of that bad situation. The Bible says no, we need to learn to be content everywhere God has put us. That is not to say there might not be a time to move on, but we do not seek contentment by getting out or by fleeing. The world says you find contentment in this world by getting what you want out of it. The Bible says no, that is not how you find it. God says, “You get contentment by finding me and resting in me.”

The world says one of two things: You can find contentment and happiness either by adding things or subtracting things. Some say if you want happiness, then you need to get something more, or you need to get this. Or there are some who say you need to get rid of things. Remember back in the 60s and 70s the simple lifestyle movement? That is how you find peace; that is how you find contentment. Reduce yourselves. Live simply. Well, both of those are worldly ways of thinking, because they do not address the human heart and how we need to find the wisdom of God and to pursue contentment as God declares.

I was online this weekend reading the introduction to a book on relationships. A professing Christian said, “I am going to pass on to you wisdom. It is wisdom that I have gleaned from my own experience; it is wisdom that I have gleaned from other people; it is wisdom gleaned from various athletes and prominent people and from politicians; it is wisdom that I have gleaned from ministers.” But not once did this professing Christian writer say, “It was wisdom that I have gleaned from the Bible!” The indication there is that this is probably human wisdom that is not going to lead to godliness in our lives. How we pursue contentment cannot be according to the ways of the world. We need to learn it and study it from God's Word.

Contentment in Every Situation←⤒🔗

Thirdly, you will not truly be content until you learn to be content in any and every situation that you face in life. That is what Paul says. In any and every circumstance—plenty and want, good times and bad. We might think, “Well, it is easy to be content in times of abundance, right?” Wrong! There is the danger of complacency, the danger of forgetting God, the danger of wanting more. Of course, our contentment is put to the test most in those times of want, those times of affliction, those times of trial in our lives.

And we need to recognize some things. We are going to come back in a few weeks and look at finding contentment in times of affliction more specifically, but let me just say up front this morning that we need to recognize two things when it comes to afflictions. We need to recognize that afflictions are inevitable. Everybody faces them, and especially Christians. The Apostle Paul said those who want to live a godly life in Christ will be persecuted. Jesus said, “In the world you will face tribulation” (John 16:33). For Christians in particular, it is inevitable. As Jeremiah Burroughs, in his book The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment, puts it, Christ did not say to His people, “Recognise your crosses,” He said, “Take up your cross and follow me.” Afflictions are inevitable for those who truly follow Christ.

But afflictions are also important. They lead to our sanctification. In Hebrews 12 the writer to the Hebrews tells us that we are to undergo hardship as God’s discipline—even the hardship that comes at the hands of sinful men. And that is what he was dealing with—the persecutions of God’s people. But treat that as God’s discipline. God is treating you as beloved children to make you more like Christ. They are important. We need to see affliction as coming from the hand of God.

If we cannot bear hardship in our life, it reveals a deeper spiritual problem at work in us. Do you remember Job’s words to his wife, when at the beginning of his struggle his wife said to him, “Curse God and die”? Job responded to her, “Shall we receive good from God and not evil?” (Job 2:10). Those who have been reading the book of Job know that this comes from Satan, but ultimately Job says, “This comes from God, and shall we receive only good and not evil or bad from God?” All of our affliction we need to see as coming from the hands of God.

We need to be content in all types of affliction. Many of us would say we are willing to suffer for the sake of Christ, or we are willing to suffer for the gospel. But there may be other things that we cannot suffer. What if God were to take from you the apple of your eye: your spouse or your child? Are you willing to endure those kinds of affliction? We need to be ready and willing, and learn to be content in all circumstances and in all afflictions.

Afflictions last different lengths of time. Some come and go fairly quickly. Some—chronic illness, chronic pains, chronic health struggles—last a long time, if not a lifetime. We need to learn to be content in each of those circumstances.

Contentment comes not by finding conditions suitable to us, but they come by God’s fashioning our spirits to our conditions. It is not by finding the place that is comfortable for me, but by praying to God for my heart to fit this condition where [He] has put me right now. It is not wanting and desiring more, but finding my rest and peace and contentment in [Him] and in [Him] alone. We need to be content. And you will not learn true contentment until you are content in every situation that you face in life. 

Contentment as Self-Sufficiency←⤒🔗

Fourth and finally, you need to understand what contentment means. What does it mean? Interestingly here the word that Paul uses that is translated ‘contentment’ is a word that in various contexts can also mean self-sufficiency.

Now, let me unpack this. This word was actually a word that was used in the ancient Greco-Roman moral philosophers, who prided themselves on their self-sufficiency—their non-attachment, or their non-dependence on others. One form of this was in stoicism, which can be summed up wonderfully by that Simon and Garfunkel song: “I am a rock. I am an island. And a rock feels no pain, and an island never cries.” It is a detachment, a self-dependence. “I am a self-made man.” That is not what Paul is talking about. Paul clearly says he is dependent on God. Paul clearly, even in Philippians, is going to tell us that he is dependent on other believers. That his salvation (Philippians 1) comes through their prayers and the help of the Holy Spirit. He is dependent on them.

SO what does this word then mean in this context? It means that we do not rely on external circumstances to bring about joy, peace, contentment in our lives. We do not rely on externals to make us happy. Think about how we treat little children or how we treat infants. When infants are crying, what do we do typically? We give them something to make them stop crying. But if we do that with our children throughout their lives, what do we do? We damage them. We teach our children to be peaceful, happy and content apart from giving them external things.

My brother-in-law tells the story of standing in line at a bakery, and up in front of him there was a woman with a little child, probably about three years old. The woman went up to the counter. All she wanted to do is get a couple loaves of bread or some such thing. And the child looked through the glass in the bakery and saw a nice big cookie. The child put his finger up to the window and tapped on it and said, “I want that cookie.” The mother calmly said to him, “No, you cannot have that cookie.” And the child kept doing it. “I want that cookie.” “No, you cannot have that cookie.” “I want that cookie!” “No.” Louder and louder and louder. It was causing a scene in the bakery, and finally the woman gave up, bought the cookie, gave it to the child, and left the store. And most of us recognize the danger that that causes. When parents give into a child's every demands, children turn out to be a terror to their parents, a terror to society, a terror to themselves, and they never learn to walk humbly with God.

So brothers and sisters, we need to learn the same thing. As adults, we need to learn to find contentment not from something coming to us from the outside, not from some other situation that we want to get in; we need to learn contentment where we are now, apart from externals. I strongly recommend that you get Jeremiah Burroughs book, The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment (2010). Jeremiah Burroughs defines contentment as “that sweet, inward, quiet, gracious frame of spirit, which freely submits to and delights in God's wise and fatherly disposal in every condition.” It is a sweet, quiet, inward, gracious frame of spirit that submits to and delights in. That is where the joy of Philippians comes in! This is not grim resignation—“I will go along with what God's doing here.” It is delighting in what God is doing in our lives!

This is how we bring glory to God. This is how we bring glory to God, as we develop this quality/trait of contentment. This is why John Piper's now famous phrase is so helpful to us: “God is most glorified when we are most satisfied in Him.” Are you satisfied in God? May we learn that satisfaction and contentment, that God might be glorified in our lives.