Christian Contentment By Reverend Geoffrey Thomas

I'm to speak to you tonight on the subject of Christian contentment.
As one of the Puritans, Jeremiah Burroughs
more fully expresses his concern for its absence in the lives of so many
Christians, the rare jewel of Christian contentment.
And in Philippians chapter 4 and verse 11
we read, For I have learned in whatsoever state
I am therewith to be content. Philippians chapter 4 and verse 11
there was this especially close bond that existed between
the apostle Paul and the church at Philippi. It was the fruit
of his first venture in evangelism and church planting
into the European continent. And it seems to have been a very attractive
church and it seems to have been very consistent in its affection and love
for the apostle. And it had shown its affection to him in many ways.
The apostle is in this chapter speaking about
one thing. They'd sent a gift to him because when he's writing this
letter he's writing it from prison in Rome and the Christians in Philippi
had made strenuous efforts then to gather together a considerable sum of
money and to convey it all the way from Greece
to Rome to him in prison to help defray
perhaps some of the expenses of the trial
or possibly also to obtain creature comforts for him
so that the rigors of the imprisonment then
might in some way be ameliorated. In any case they've been
so generous and Paul at this juncture then as he writes this letter to them
is expressing his thankfulness to them, their
thoughtfulness, their care for him and he thanks them so sincerely and warmly
and yet he does so very carefully and tactfully
because there is more at stake for the apostle than simply
the correct etiquette in giving thanks to people
for what they've done because he wants above all things
in this last chapter to assure them of his own peace of mind and his own
emotional well-being in this imprisonment
and he wants to tell them that all that didn't depend at all
upon financial considerations. He is so grateful for the kindness
he tells them that they've shown to him but
he wants them to keep it all in perspective
the way that he has reacted himself to his own unjust arrest
and trial and incarceration and he thanks them but he says it's more
for their sake that he's glad of the gift
than for his own sake because it speaks so eloquently to him
that a real work of grace has been done in their lives
and he is so grateful because it assures him of
the change that's taken place of the wonderful thing that God has done
in them in giving them now this burden and this
spirit of sacrifice for himself under these
this situation it speaks so eloquently of their brotherly love
and their care and he says for myself then i don't
speak about my needs i'm not complaining i'm not
hinting at my needs because he says i have learned
in whatsoever state i am therewith to be content
it's a great statement isn't it it's one of those great verses that we
repeat in prayer and that we we feed on at the very beginnings and
conception of our christian lives and it holds before us the the
possibility that that grace can be ours that this is something that we can
attain and experience for ourselves
that no matter what our personal conditions may be
whatever our circumstances we're not complaining
we're not envious we're not self-pitying we are contented
now i want to look briefly this evening at christian contentment
and ask what is involved then in the apostles
teaching on this
what first of all does the apostle mean by contentment
what is this grace what is it to be content
the actual word that the apostle uses here is in its basic meaning
to be independent of one's circumstances it was used by historic philosophers it
was a term that for them meant self-sufficiency it meant a man didn't
rely on his environment he didn't depend on his condition but that within himself
then he had some quality that left him all sufficient
that made him independent of the circumstances
in which he was in i don't want to import into my
teaching then all of that historical emphasis
the apostle paul was no stoic we christians are not stoics
but the primary thrust then of this teaching is that
a christian is someone at peace in himself
he has peace with himself he has peace with the world
he has peace with god no matter what the situation may be no matter what his
circumstances and he's speaking here really of his own
emotional frame of mind and he's telling us
he felt peace he felt joy he felt integrated he felt
relaxed fulfilled and he tells us more than that
he tells us he was able to feel those things
no matter what his circumstances were and he says it absolutely categorically
he says it without any sort of qualification whatsoever
he'd learned he says in whatsoever state he was in therewith to be content
he says there's no external condition no set of possibilities no conceivable
circumstances in which he would not be content
nothing whatsoever in the objective and external world that could take from him
his peace of mind he's learned he says to be
independent emotionally of any circumstances
and he's learned that lesson so thoroughly that he's independent of
whatever circumstances he finds himself in
now that's the great generalization that the apostle
is making here and then you can begin to particularize them too
and you can look through the life of the apostle paul and you can see this
in his life we read together from acts chapter 16
and there in that same city of philippi he'd begun his ministry
and he had been unjustly arrested and he'd been terribly beaten
and thrown into prison and there in darkness with his feet in the stocks
right in the middle of the night and all that horror in all that uncertainty
of that circumstance he and silas at that time
pray but more than pray they sing together
now they're singing praises to god now it seems to me that illustrates this
teaching perfectly because their circumstances are so adverse
and yet their emotional condition bears no relationship to it at all
to that actual providential situation it wasn't then his back that determined
how he felt it wasn't the darkness that determined
how he felt it wasn't the injustice that he'd experienced
that determined how he felt it wasn't the uncertainty
about what tomorrow would bring that determined how he felt it was none
of those things that determined how these two men
felt at that time their feelings their frame of mind
was altogether above and independent of that objective situation
now it is the same thing with this roman imprisonment it was
an imprisonment of tremendous rigor and of passion and
it was one of great inconvenience and frustration
and discomfort it was one of uncertainty one of injustice
it was one from which paul was growingly aware he wasn't going to get away alive
from that prison he contemplates in the first
chapter of this letter that his end is near
and soon he is going to seal his testimony to his savior
with his own blood and yet under those circumstances he is content
his imprisonment doesn't govern what his emotional response is
he go right through his life how often he tells us he'd been abased
he was disinherited by his parents the moment he professed
his trust now was in jesus the messiah he was persecuted by the jews he
carried the cares of many many churches he knew the hostility of many fellow
christians he knew the contempt of leaders
in churches the scorn the ridicule heaped upon him his physical appearance
his ministry by false prophets and apostles
still this man has learned contentment and all the hardships then that he
endured on his missionary journeys and yet still these things are not alone
he says the way that he feels his peace of mind
his sense of fulfillment and assurance
and happiness they were all independent then those feelings of the objective day
by day situation now surely this evening we can apply
this great truth to ourselves that it is laid down here in scripture
that the christian is a contented man and that is normative christianity
we have no right before god to be possessed by a spirit
of discontentedness if you feel this evening discontented
then you are sinning against god you are sinning against your whole
christian position it is a sin for a christian
not to be contented it is as sinful as hating one's brother
it is as sinful as judging people sensoriously
it is as sinful as being anxious and worrying
we have no right before god to be discontented with what god in his
providence has determined for ourselves it is utterly wrong for the believer
and then you see what we do we say ah yes but if you knew my situation
and if you knew my problems and if you knew the circumstances that
i'm in at the present time you'd realize just why i'm discontented
and you'd realize more than that why i've got every right to be
discontented and if i understand this passage
correctly it is saying to us this there is no
situation there are no circumstances there's no
combination of circumstances which can ever
justify the child of god being discontented and more than that it is
presenting to us the possibility that the christian
no matter how appallingly difficult his outward circumstances may be
he can be contented he is bound to be contented by the grace of god a spirit
of contentment may be his that he is no right
to be otherwise and he can never plead his circumstances
as a justification for being discontented
can i really ask this question can i ask it
of myself do i really think that no matter what
paul teaches here no matter what he felt there is something
so different and something so unique in my situation
that i am exempt from this principle and that i am beyond the scope of the
marvelous promise that is built into this statement
and am i really saying tonight if paul knew my difficulties
and if he knew my circumstances he would understand
and he would condone and i believe that we are being taught by this passage that
no matter what our inheritance has been no matter
what our temperament has been no matter what our circumstances have
been we have no right to be discontented
and more than that no matter what our circumstances
are tonight we are not beyond the provision
of what god gives us in this word of creating within us
there is enviable and desirable frame of mind
now i would qualify what i'm saying in certain directions
but before i begin to qualify there is this great principle
that whatever our circumstances may be we are bound to be contented
whatever our circumstances god is able to give to us the grace
of christian content now let me clarify what i've got to say
let me qualify it in a number of directions
i don't want to modify that principle but i want to guard it against
misunderstanding in some of you this evening i want to
say firstly this that it doesn't mean that there were no
times in the life of the apostle paul when he didn't feel utterly dejected
in other words i'm saying this i don't think that the apostle paul
was personally always in this condition i think he lived under the principle
that i and you live under that he ought always to have been
contented and i think by the grace of god he
always could have been contented but the apostle
was in a state of grace as a christian he was an ungodly man
whose hope was god justifies the ungodly whose faith
is in jesus christ and the good that he would not he didn't
and the evil that he would not that he did
he says to us and there were times when he fell into
despondency we know sometimes he tells the church in
current he was pressed down beyond measure
his flesh had no rest without were fighting's within were fierce
he tells us he even despaired of life that his outward man was perishing
there was a time in his own experience when he was
young in the christian faith and god had blessed him and elevated him
and used him and drawn near to him and strengthened him
in glorious ways and then god gave him a thorn in the flesh as a
counterpoise to deliver him from spiritual pride
because pride in a servant of the lord is the most hideous
spectacle and would ruin his future usefulness
in the church and so this thorn in the flesh a messenger of satan was
prescribed by god to him and when it came to him he
found it enormously difficult to bear it was the most dreadful thing to come
into his life
you see i want to say two things i want to say
contentment is the greatest possibility facing us as christians that we can live
independently of our circumstances we're the great
spirit of contentedness i'm saying that's
god's will for us and by god's provision we can attain
that but i do not want any this evening
who don't feel contented to go away and say well
we're no christians we can't be christians
we've been deluding ourselves because we don't feel like the apostle paul
because i'm saying to you there were days when
judged by paul's own standards paul failed now that seems to me
measurably important it seems to be superb that when the
apostle had that thorn in the flesh he prayed
and prayed and prayed that god would take that thought from him
he cried to god that it might be removed now that that seems to me to be
so important that that is the christian response
when necessities distresses come into our lives that that is a true
and a natural and a proper christian response
it seems to me sublime but when our lord was praying in the garden of gethsemane
and saw the cup that the father was giving him to drink that he should pray
father if it's possible let this cup let this one pass from me
not this cup oh father not this cup
now that indicates how our heavenly father tolerates
that frame of mind that response when we ourselves are so pressed down
beyond measure when we are moving into despondency
when we are moving into despair the psalmist says out of the depths
i cry to thee oh lord and isn't that an interesting expression
of a man praying to god and it would be an interesting thing to
reflect on that a man can be contented and yet be
in the depths
and i wouldn't rule that out at all that possible
combination of someone passing through bereavement
and being in the depths and yet somehow finding a peace and a contentedness
with all that god has done for that person
i'm simply you see concerned to point this out that the apostle is saying
here's the great principle by which he lived
and yet he wasn't always able to attain this any more than you or i
are able to there were times when he was pressed down when he was sad when he
was despondent and surely all of us here know that
and then again i would make another qualification
paul's false contentedness it didn't extend to quietly accepting
his moral and spiritual condition
when he looked at his own life the apostle said i can't condone what i see
here i don't approve of what i do i know that
i do things and oh i'm ashamed of myself for doing them
i think things and oh i'm so annoyed with myself
for thinking those things and saying those things
i feel at times as a christian oh wretched man
that i am he wasn't contented with his spiritual condition
he wasn't content with what he had done as a believer as a servant of the lord
he wasn't content with the fruit that he'd born in his life
he wasn't content with the consistency that he had showed
when he looked at his prayer life when he looked at his growth in grace
when he looked at holiness in his life he wasn't contented he
tells the philippian church not that i have already attained
not that i am already perfect and so his acquiescence in his condition
was an acquiescence in physical circumstances and economic
circumstances and providential circumstances
it was not at all an acquiescence in the whole
of his life it wasn't an acquiescence in his moral and spiritual condition
he was profoundly discontented with all of that and i would suggest you a
a christian may follow that a christian must
follow that we are not going to acquiesce in our own
present stage of spiritual attainment that rate of moral and spiritual
progress that we've made we're not going to be content with that
and i would make another qualification and it is this
paul was not prepared to acquiesce simply
in all that he saw in the christian church
around him now he loved the brethren and he tolerated then
teachers who taught from wrong motives but he wasn't contented without it he
wasn't contented as he looked at the churches around him
as he looked at the church at galatia as he looked at the church at corinth
as he looked at the church at colossi as he looked at those false teachers
there just outside the prison walls in rome who were
preaching christ out of envy and out of strife
and paul didn't say oh well i've learned to be content
and to turn a blind eye then on all their aberrations and their abuses and
all the inconsistencies in the church of god
and i think that this is something which is tremendously painful because
it is really a knife edge as professor murray
would say the the gap between vice and virtue isn't a chasm it is a
razor's edge and the apostle then was constrained
to walk that razor's edge as he looked in the church
and his own response to it there is on the one hand an obligation
under god to give us a spirit of contentment that
we're living in this century that we're living in this town in this
community that he's placed you in that street in
that locality that you are there and you are an
obligation before god to be contented with what he in his providence has
determined for you where you are when you live
and yet at the same time we are a man and brother
we are under a principle from god that we are out to reform and revive
the church of the living god and there was a great deal in the church the
churches as paul saw them and paul was profoundly
discontented with what he saw he could not acquiesce in what he saw
in those churches and i think there is a terrible danger
of us resting this principle of contentment
and of it becoming as a result of it being rested by us
a spirit of inertia the christian church is full of ministers
of elders and deacons who are simply content to
acquiesce in the denominational and ecclesiastical situation as it is
and when you express misgivings and profound concerns
they'll say to you well why now are you getting excited
why are you getting disturbed why get involved
why don't you turn a blind eye why can't you simply be content
with a church as it is and the mark of a good minister in some circles as he
always keeps the peace the mark of a good deacon in some
churches he never raises doctrinal moral ethical
ecclesiastical issues in church courts but he's always a man
who keeps the peace i do not think we have any right
to rest that principle in that way paul didn't mind being in prison paul
didn't mind being hungry and cold and naked
and in pain and in discomfort he minded with every fiber of his being every
heresy every error every inconsistency
every deviation from that deposit of apostolic truth
that he had received from those that had been with christ
and that he had received from christ himself
and he would never acquiesce in anything that would deviate from those things and
i would suggest to you no matter how perfect a church may be
a particular church we have no right ourselves simply to acquiesce
and i would suggest to you the day when it comes
and we acquiesce in the church then as it is or the church
worldwide and i acquiesce in the baptist condition
and i acquiesce in my congregation's condition it is time for me to quit that
congregation in that moment we are content to be
tolerant that time has come just
as that day comes and we look at ourselves one morning in the mirror and
we think well we've really arrived as christians
we're done for
the day we can say of any church of any denomination of every any congregation
well that's a pretty good congregation that's a grand church that's a perfect
church we're done for when i acquiesce
simply and passively in my spiritual condition
i'm done for when i acquiesce in my church's condition
i'm done for i'm spent i'm useless i'm a cumberer of the ground
the christian never loses his determination
to change the christian is someone who's going to change the world
and if i've lost that i'm done for and maybe there are days you know
when i'm almost done oh it's difficult to change things
it's difficult to change oneself
and the day we begin to sit back on our horse
that day we're done for i've got to stand before the deficiencies of my
personality and stand before the weaknesses and the inconsistencies of
the church and the injustices and the inequities
of society i don't accept those things i'm not
content with any of those things i
must retain a determination by the strength of god
to change and change
well now if that is what contentment means
and if those are some of the ways then in which we must qualify
this teaching then how how then can we get this contentment
how can it be ours
how can we end the rarity of this jewel
well i would say this i would say firstly it was something that paul learned
i have learned he says now that is immensely important because he reminds
us first of all it wasn't a matter of temperament
you know what happens if you're talking about a problem of worry
with a christian and she'll say to you well she can't help it
she'll say it's her temperament
you discuss with a christian the problem of his discontentedness
he'll say the same thing to you he'll say well
you know that's my temperament you see how what paul says writes this
letter to the philippines and he says all right fellas he says
you know me happy-go-lucky paul you know me there in that prison in rome
you know me by nature things don't get me down you know my temperament
i bounce i'm in prison well that's okay i don't get discontented do i
that wasn't paul's temperament i'm sure if we knew the apostle
he was an absolute bundle of energy i'm sure by temperament he was a forceful
driving impatient impulsive irritable man
that is what he was by temperament that is not what he was when he was writing
this letter to the philippians because it was not his temperament
that determined the way he felt now please can we realize the importance
of that for ourselves that we can never justify our impatience
our irritability the sharpness with which we speak our bad temper
we can't justify such trays of character we can't justify depressiveness
anxiety discontentedness and say well you see that's my temperament
for one thing my temperament is my temperament
and it is a thing to have a certain temperament
a particular temperament to have an anxious temperament
to have a discontented temperament to have a depressive temperament
what do i do with those temperaments do i simply take my temperament my
selfish temperament my anxious temperament
my irritable bad temper temperament an acquiesce
and say well that's just what i am oh no
i've got to control them i've got to alter them
there is the same necessary emphasis in scripture on change
you don't accept your temperaments you may be very lazy
by temperament i don't accept my temperament
i said you that is fundamental in the christian life
that you do not accept your temperament that you get to grips with it
every one of us in this conference has got a personality problem
every one of us has got some awkwardness in their nature in their temperament in
their personality no one has got any right at all simply
to accept that we've got to get to grips with it we've
got to take it to the throne of grace the one who sits on our throne is the
wonderful counselor and we go to him and we go to him in the
light of the word and under the word and with the power of that word that he has
prayed might sanctify us with the knowledge
that he's going to conform us to the image then
of the proper man christ that we might alter and modify
and purify and elevate and sublimate and make noble
our temperaments paul doesn't say that contentment was something he was born
with temperamentally i do not think for a
moment he was born with it he tells us he
learned it he learned it
and then i'm also saying this that when he says he learned it
he does not for a moment mean that all his impatience and all his
anxiety and all his discontented spirit that all these were once and for all
overcome
no that is another great error we can fall into today
some people say well it's a matter of temperament
and then other people say well it's all a matter of momentary experience
in the moment you come in conversion to jesus christ
or others say it's all to do with a second blessing
the baptism of the holy spirit or the sealing or the filling of the holy
spirit all that goes away they say
word that it was so
i cannot this evening say that no man is a christian if he's not contented
and i certainly cannot say this evening that it is given to us
in conversion but all these things go away
and i certainly cannot say oh you need the baptism of the holy spirit
and from then on you'll be contented all the way
i am sure that the apostle paul for years
after the damascus road experience didn't have this condition
that paul was not living at this level it was not given to him in ecstasy one
moment discontented the next moment absolute
tranquility and peace
now there is no doubt that there are sudden
changes that take place in a person and in a christian that a depression
can suddenly lift that's been over a lady for months and months
and suddenly inexplicably the depression lifts one day and she
whispers to her husband almost unbelieving that it's gone that
it's gone the craving for alcohol the craving for
nicotine suddenly gone the bondage broken
sometimes in conversion sometimes afterwards
now i'm saying to you i do not for a moment believe that that is what paul
is speaking of here i do not think that it commonly happens
that a christian's infirmities of temperament
are overcome in one single experience for me
that is delusional thinking
to begin to dream oh if only i had the baptism
then it would be joy and peace and contentment and victory all the way
it is something learned and it is something learned through the
long discipline of a christian life through walking with god
through fellowship through prayer through the means of grace
what i mean by that is this paul had been taught by god
from the word of god that contentment was a duty
now he'd learned that lesson he'd been taught it
he'd learned it
now i believe that is singularly important
i want to ask you this evening when did you
learn when did you learn that contentment was a duty
i would ask you have you realized that being discontented carrying that chip on
your shoulder that's a sin
and i think sometimes we allow ourselves to fall into
melancholy and restlessness and being discontented
because we don't realize that those things are sins at all
now the first thing that we've got to learn is this is god's will
god's will for me is to be a contented man
it is a sin for me to be discontented and that is what paul had learned it had
been taught him the savior who said come unto me
said then to him and learn of me and this is one of the lessons then that
his savior had taught him but more than that
he learned that he could attain this he learned that he could be content
whatever the state however he felt whatever his health was like whatever
his family's health was like whatever his financial state
whatever the way he was being treated he learned
he could be a contented man
but more than that he learned how
he learned it was his duty he learned it was a possibility
and he learned how he might attain it he learned how he could have
this red jewel of christian contentment
and say oh tell me how oh how can that be mine
how how is it possible for the apostle to say he'd learned it
so comprehensively so promiscuously whatsoever state
there with to be content or how can i learn that
well i think we learn it in this way that we take our stand initially
on this great principle thy will be done
and i think that is where contentment begins
the commitment of our hearts to one great simple principle for my
life what i want in my life is the will of god
as long as i know this is god's will i'm not going to quarrel there is no
way that you can find a christian who says
i'm delighted to do your will oh lord i'm delighted to do it
and then suddenly when god makes clear what his will is for us
then we're in all kinds of trouble then we're upset
and we're
disarranged and we're plaintive
now you know biblically that's the clearest
principle i can preach to you that's the plainest simplest statement
i can make from this pulpit tonight
and when you're in the valley and when you're in the vortex and when
you are suffering it is immensely difficult
but i tell you i tell you this i tell you there is no other way
my heart's commitment my emotional loyalty to this
what i want in my life is the will of god that's what i want
and very very often that's why we're not contented people
because we don't want god's will we don't really like god's will we want
our will
and i would suggest to you we have to alter our perspectives we have to stand
on this principle we have a god in heaven who cares for us
who is the shepherd of israel and our shepherd
we have a sovereign protector unseen but forever at hand
unchangeably faithful to save almighty to rule
and command who always gives the best to us who works all things
together for our good who will withhold no good thing
to them that love him that is our father in heaven
he knows all about us and he cares for us
and we're to say then to this loving father whom we can trust
absolutely and we can trust ourselves to and our loved ones too and all our
tomorrows too we're to say to him thy will be done
thy will be done and if we if we said that and if we meant that
then we'd learn so many things each day we
rose we'd learn this is a day that the lord has made with nothing but
god's will for us with nothing but the providence of god
nothing any day nothing but that cup that
god has filled to overflowing every day providentially he's arranged it you see
the marvel of it every day will i bless thee and i will
praise thy name forever and ever every day
not just the days when we meet with so many christians with whom we have so
much in common and encourage one another speak to one another of the lord not
just on the days when god blesses us not day
the days when our cup is filled with overflowing and we are
so conscious of goodness and mercy following us
not just the days when there is a sensed presence and
those peak experiences come to us as we see our loved ones around us and
feel overwhelmed by a sight of them and a knowledge of how
dear they are to us not just the days of success
not just the days then of joy unspeakable and
not just those days every day will i bless thee
a day when we get up and our best friend says to us
how are you today and you say it's not a good day today i'm not having
a good day today
but it's the day the lord has made
and i'm glad and i'm rejoicing in that day because i'm just
receiving the cup he has given me to drink
it's just his workmanship this day and i've got to try then amidst all the
emotional currents that are running around me
and disorientating me and disoriented my family with unbelief
i have to seek then to stand
and in so often the agony and emptiness of my providence so often
and in my desolation and in my bereavement
to lay hold of this it is the lord
it is god's will it is the cup he has given me to drink
he cannot harm me nor mine all my days this father
and i've got to say to myself again and again
this is the day the lord has made i will be glad and rejoice in it
god grant us the grace of christian contentment
amen now let us pray
oh lord our god again we at the close of this day
come to thank thee for making it and for giving it to us
and all that in this day has been a cup filled to overflowing
with goodness and mercy such rich blessings we bless the lord that we've
been spared and at this moment of our lives we
should be found here before thy throne
when we could be spending this saturday night
are so many in this city it's only because of thy discriminating
mercy it's only because of thy favor to us that we are so spared
and that we're found gathered in the name of our savior
and thou thyself present in our midst we are blessed people
that have thee as our lord oh we beseech thee to have mercy on us
that we've been so discontented so plaintive
so critical of what thou hast brought so questioning thee and thy will
have mercy on us grant that we shall learn what the apostle learned
every day grant that grace in abundance to us whatever the future
holds and we can learn in whatsoever state we
are to be content grant us our heart's desire
for jesus sake amen
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