The Secret of Contentment, Part 2 (Philippians 4:13) John MacArthur

Let’s open our Bibles to Philippians chapter 4 and  return to our study of the secret of contentment.   We’re looking at Philippians chapter 4 verses  10 through 19 as a unit of thought in the mind   of the Spirit of God and from the pen of the  apostle Paul. And here, he is writing about the   subject of contentment. In verse 11 he writes,  “Not that I speak from want for I have learned   to be content.” And I would venture to say that  everyone would like to experience contentment.   That’s a wonderful, rich, and somewhat elusive  word. I would suppose that we would all agree   that most people are sort of desperate in  wanting to be content, wanting to be satisfied,   wanting to be sufficient. Well, I have good news for you. There is  someone who can provide contentment. And I   received a flyer this week that tells all  about this person. This is what it says,   “All who are unsuccessful, unlucky, dissatisfied,  and discontent, let the woman who knows help you.   She removes evil influence. If husband  or wife is unfaithful, see her now.  

She settles lovers’ quarrels, helps you gain  back the lost love, and the affection of the   one you love, and shows you the way to happiness.  She names friends and enemies and tells you if   friends are true or false. She locates lost  and stolen property. If you have any problem   concerning the past, the present, the future,  love, marriage, business, law suits, finance, or   health, if you are in trouble, sick, or in love,  there’s no problem so great she can’t solve it.” It’s good news, isn’t it?   “She offers you a guarantee to remove all evil and  all bad luck with a holy bath and shower in one   visit.” And what is the best news of all? She is  located on Woodman Avenue in Pacoima. It’s amazing   to be so close to the source of contentment. By  the name, her name is Mrs. White, and if you want   her phone number I have it here. I’ll tell you  something, folks, if she could remove all evil   and bad luck with one holy bath and shower, she  wouldn’t be living on Woodman Avenue in Pacoima  

because she would be the richest person in the   world. Everybody wants contentment.  Sorry Mrs. White, we don’t buy it. People seek contentment and typically in  the world they assume that contentment is   the absence of all problems. That’s not  the true meaning of contentment because   if that’s what contentment is no one will  ever have it because you can’t be completely   free from problems. True contentment is  being able to be satisfied and content   in the midst of any problem. That’s the kind of  contentment that God offers through Christ. No,   the person who has the answers isn’t in Pacoima,  the person who has the answers is in heaven. God   alone can make us content in any situation, and  that’s what we’re learning from the apostle Paul.

Let me read you the text again just to set  it in your mind, starting in verse 10. “But   I rejoiced in the Lord greatly that now at last  you have revived your concern for me, indeed you   were concerned before but you lacked opportunity.  Not that I speak from want, for I have learned to   be content in whatever circumstances I am.  I know how to get along with humble means,   and I also know how to live in prosperity. In any  and every circumstance, I have learned the secret   of being filled and going hungry, both of having  abundance and suffering need. I can do all things   through Him who strengthens me. Nevertheless, you  have done well to share with me in my affliction   and you yourselves also know, Philippians, that at  the first preaching of the gospel after I departed   from Macedonia, no church shared with me in the  matter of giving and receiving but you alone,   for even in Thessalonica you sent  a gift more than once for my needs,   not that I seek the gift itself but I seek for  the profit which increases to your account. But   I have received everything in full and have an  abundance. I am amply supplied, having received   from Epaphroditus what you sent, a fragrant aroma,  an acceptable sacrifice well pleasing to God. And   my God shall supply all your needs according  to His riches and glory in Christ Jesus.” Now, we are touching the heart of this great man,  Paul. And we are finding that he is a man for all  

seasons. We are finding that he is a man of  contentment. He is a satisfied man. He is a   sufficient man. We have noted back in verse  4 that he commanded us to always rejoice. We   have noted in verse 6 that he commanded us  not to worry or be anxious for anything. And   we remember in verse 7 that he introduced  us to the peace of God. And in verse 9,   he introduced us to the God of peace. Here is a  man who knows how to rejoice in every situation.   Here is a man who is free from anxiety and worry.  Here is a man whose heart is guarded by the peace   of God and the God of peace. Here is a man who  now tells us that he has learned to be content. Could there be any more significant theme for  our day than contentment? We live in an utterly   discontent culture. We are discontent with what  we have. We are discontent with what we look like.   We are discontent with who we are married to.  We are discontent with our lot in life. We are   basically discontent with the circumstances  and the difficulties that come our way.   We are discontent. And we have so much. Here  is a man who rejoiced, who was free from worry,  

who knew a surpassing explicable peace.  Here is a man who learned to be content;   here is a man who in any and every circumstance  found himself sufficient, satisfied. Naturally the   question that is immediately posed is: how so? How  can we be content? If he learned to be content,   can he teach us to be content? He who was the  pupil and learned the lesson, can he become   the teacher and we the pupil? And I believe the  answer is yes. And that’s why we’re looking rather   closely at this text, because it outlines for us  what I believe to be the elements of contentment. Remember point one that we made last time?  That contentment begins with confidence in   God’s providence in verse 10. Contentment begins  with a settled confidence in God’s sovereign   control of all of the events of life that  ultimately are going to reach us for our good.   That’s what he was saying by implication in verse  10, “I rejoiced when your gift came.” He was,   you remember, a prisoner in Rome; he was  captive there, chained to a Roman soldier,   incarcerated in some apartment in the city of  Rome. He was a man who therefore had lost his   comfort and his freedom. He was subsisting on the  bare minimum in terms of the necessities of life.  

And here the Philippians had sent him a gift,  perhaps money, perhaps food, perhaps clothing,   perhaps some other amenities that he was in need  of. And he is saying: look, it’s fine, I know it   didn’t come any sooner because you didn’t have  any opportunity to do it any sooner. He is content   with the sovereign God who providentially orders  opportunities. And there is the baseline element   in contentment, that great confidence that God  has not forgotten me, that God is attentive to me,   that God knows the number of hairs on my head,  that God understands everything about my life,   maybe even puts my tears in a bottle. God knows  my uprising and my down-sitting; He knows my   coming and my going. I am the constant focus of  His omniscient love and He orders everything in   His universe to bring to pass my good. When you  believe that, you will experience contentment.

The second thing that the apostle Paul noted  as an element of contentment is satisfaction   with little. In verse 11 he says, “Not that I  speak from want. I have learned on the other hand   to be content in whatever circumstances I am.”  Here he implies that it was very little that was   necessary to satisfy him. If anybody could have  said, “I’ve been in great want, very little food,   very little subsistence, very great extremities  in terms of the incarceration problem,” he could   have said, “I have great needs.” Instead he says,  “I really don’t speak from want at all.” How can   you say that, Paul? Because I assess my life and  I say I can be satisfied with very, very little. And we tried to convey that to you  last Lord’s day that we are to be   content with food, and clothing and  that’s it. And if God provides that,   we are to be content. We talked about how  we live in a society that breeds discontent;   the whole approach of advertising is to make  you discontent and it’s very, very effective.

I received a little paper project that one of  the little kids in our church did this week,   and it came to me. This little girl wrote, “If we  have food and covering, there with to be content,”   1 Timothy 6:8 on the front. And I opened it up  and all of a sudden the trees started popping up,   and she says, “I’m thankful to share my yard with  the other kids.” And then, the next page says,   “I’m thankful to share my room.” And this is a  picture of her bed with two pillows on it which   she no doubt shares with someone. “I’m thankful  for a little food.” She’s got a little food on her   table; it looks like an egg and a box of cereal.  And then, “I’m thankful for a few clothes,” she   writes, “Dear Pastor, thank you for teaching us  to be content. I will remember that God gives   us what we need. I will be satisfied with a little  bit. And when things go wrong I will remember that   God controls my life. Love, Tara.” She got it.  It’s right here. That book ought to be published.   To be satisfied with little might be the most  precious lesson you could teach your children.

The third point we noted last time in our look  at this passage is that Paul not only showed   confidence in God’s providence and demonstrated  satisfaction with little; but thirdly,   he lived independent from circumstances. Point  three is independence from circumstances,   and we’re just reviewing. In verse 12 he says,  “I know how to get along with humble means and   how to live in prosperity.” At the end of the  verse he says, “I can be filled or go hungry,   I can have abundance or suffer need.” In  the middle of the verse, “In any and every   circumstance I’ve learned the secret.” I’ve  been initiated into the inside secret of how   to be content in any kind of circumstance. It  doesn’t matter what it is, positive or negative,   plus or minus. And, beloved, again that is a  component of satisfaction. Satisfaction is not   related to what you have. Satisfaction is not  related to what you don’t have. Satisfaction   is related to living above that level and  understanding the providence of God, the   promises of God and being satisfied with little in  this life, anticipating much in the life to come.

Paul moved through life, the gamut of life’s  experiences being his seemingly daily fare,   and always he was content and always he was  satisfied. It was okay when things went well.   It was okay when they didn’t. It was wonderful  when he was kissed, and hugged, and extolled,   and it was wonderful when he was beaten, and  bruised, and battered. Those were not the things   that dealt fatal or even devastating blows to  his inner man. He trusted in God’s provision.   He trusted in God’s promise. And so, he lived  above the circumstances. He could rejoice in   anything. He could have peace in anything. He  could be free from anxiety in anything. He could   maintain a gentle, gracious spirit in anything  because he lived beyond the circumstances.

Let me take you to a fourth point this morning.  This matter of contentment demands not only a   confidence in God’s sovereign providence, a  satisfaction with little, and an independence of   circumstance; but, fourthly, Paul was content  because he was sustained by divine power,   he was sustained by divine power. And he  experienced that. You could even make it,   he experienced divine power. Notice verse 13, “I  can do all things through Him who strengthens me.”   Some manuscripts say “Christ;” there are  manuscripts on both sides of that issue.   The better manuscripts seem to use the word  “Him,” but, of course, it refers to Christ,   I’m only saying that because some of your Bibles  may say Christ. Whether it says Christ or Him,   it’s referring to Christ. Paul says I am  sustained by Christ who strengthens me.

You see, he had learned that no matter how  difficult it was in the material world,   there was a spiritual undergirding. And I want  to talk about this just a bit this morning. Our   adequacy and our sufficiency comes from being  attached to the adequate and the sufficient   one. We are not really self-sufficient, we are  Christ-sufficient. It is because we are linked   to His life and linked to His power in us  that we have sufficiency. Paul is saying,   “Look, I can do all things through Him who  strengthens me.” What does he mean by that?   Well, he means I’m connected to Christ. And  because I’m connected to Christ, that is the   life of Christ in the soul of man, He lives in me,  the life which I live is His life living in me,   Galatians 2:20; because of that, I have a  supernatural divine strength for every situation.

Now, he does not mean, and I want you to listen  carefully to this, he does not mean that I can go   forever without eating. He does not mean  that I can go forever without drinking,   or I can forever without sleeping, or I can be  battered with 5,000 stripes and still survive.   He does not mean that. He knows that if he  doesn’t have food eventually, he will die.   If he doesn’t have something to drink eventually,  he will die. And if he is continually pummeled,   he will die. There is a limit to the physical  extremities which he can endure. I mean,   that would be true in any case, obviously. But  what he is saying is when I have come to the end   of my own resources, then I experience the power  of Christ to sustain me until a provision is made. Now, I believe he is talking here about the  material world when he says, “I can do all   things.” He could have said, “I can endure all  things.” He uses a Greek verb that means to be   strong, or to have strength. He is saying,  “I am strong enough to go through anything   because of Him who infuses His strength  into me.” He does not mean that I could   live forever with no food. He’s not talking  about a miraculous provision in that sense.  

What he is simply saying is in those exigencies  of life, those extremities of life where I have   no more human resources, I am infused with  the strength of Christ. The Bible says,   “To him who has no might, He increases  strength.” And Isaiah says in chapter 40,   that great and familiar 31st verse, “That when  we would faint and grow weary, we automatically   feel the power of God and mount up as wings as  eagles.” He’s talking about coming to the bottom,   as it were, of human resources and  finding there the strength of Christ. Perhaps the clearest illustration  of this is located at the end of 2   Corinthians. Turn in your Bible  to 2 Corinthians chapter 12.   And in 2 Corinthians chapter 12, Paul is speaking  about his weakness. He says in verse 7, “Because   of the surpassing greatness of the revelations,  for this reason to keep me from exalting myself.”   Stop at that point. Paul had received a number  of revelations from God, of course. He had had   visions of Christ. He had been, remarkably,  the tool of God by which God had revealed His   truth. Because of this it might have been a grave  temptation for him to be proud. And so, in order  

to keep him from exalting himself, verse 7 says,  “There was given to me a thorn in the flesh.” And   he says, “It was a messenger of Satan to buffet  me, to keep me from exalting myself.” Verse 8,   “Concerning this, I entreated the Lord three times  that it might depart from me.” And the Lord said,   “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is  perfected in weakness.” The Lord sent him a   very important message. You can be content because  there is sufficient grace and sufficient power to   take care of you in spite of this problem.  In other words, the Lord is saying to him,   “I will cast you on Me.” You can’t  deal with this in your own strength;   you’ll have to depend on Me. Most gladly, he says  in verse 9, “Therefore I will rather boast about   my weakness.” Why? “That the power of Christ may  dwell in me.” If I didn’t have this weakness,   I wouldn’t be dependent on Him. If I could solve  it, I wouldn’t need Him. So, it’s there for me   to be dependent. And in my dependency on Him  I see His power manifest. Verse 10, “Therefore   I am well,” what? “Content.” What are you  content with? “Weaknesses, insults, distresses,  

persecutions, difficulties for Christ’s  sake, for when I am weak then I am strong.” Now, listen to this. He found his contentment  in the manifest strength of Christ that comes   to the believer when he has exhausted his human  resources. Now, let me translate that into what   I’m saying: contentment is a byproduct  of distress. Contentment comes when you   experience the sustaining power of Christ in  those times when you have no human strength.   To him who has no might, God increases strength.  If you’ve never been there, maybe you’ve never   experienced it. Paul says, “I’m content, I’ve  seen the power of God.” We should be praying,   you know, for enough distress in our life, for  enough difficulty in our life to cast us on   Christ that we might see His power explode  in our behalf and therein to be content.

You know, I’ve grown in my capability of being  contented through the years. And it is a direct   result of all of these things but not without  this point. Through my life I have seen God do   things that only He could do. When I was at  the end of my human resources and that has   provided for me the visible and measurable, at  least spiritually, expression of the power of   God which tells me that He’s involved in  my life and therein lies my contentment.   I would worry, and fret, and experience anxiety,  and a lack of peace, and a certain amount of   fear about my sufficiency if I hadn’t seen the  power of God manifest, wouldn’t you? But when   I see the power of God manifest in the time of  my extremity, when I have no other way to turn,   but to cast myself on His strength and say,  “Lord, this is a situation I cannot resolve,   there are not resources for this, I am  dependent on You,” I see the power of   God move and therein lies my contentment  that He is at hand, that He is involved.

And so, confidently says the apostle, “I have the  strength to do anything through His strength.”   This word, “to be strong,” the word  that is translated, “I can do,” is   the word that is translated in Acts 19:16,  “overpowered.” It is translated in Acts 19:20,   “prevailed.” It is translated in James  5:16 “effective,” or “powerful prayer   of a righteous man.” It’s a word  of strength; it’s a word of power.   And Paul is saying, “I have the power to go  through all things.” By the way, in the Greek,   the “all things” is in the emphatic first  position. When the Greeks want to lay the   emphasis, they put that word first. All things I  have the power to endure. And what is he talking   about? What do you mean all things? Well, you have  to go back in the context, all things is pretty   generic if left by itself. And you just go back  to 11 and 12 you know what he’s talking about:   circumstances. He’s talking about being filled or  going hungry, having abundance of material things,   or suffering material need. That’s  what he’s talking about. He’s saying,   “Look, I have the strength to go through all  things, all deprivations, all difficulties in   the material world, all times of prosperity,”  he’s talking about the material world. “I have  

the ability to deal with any kind of material  circumstance because of my spiritual strength.” That’s what he’s saying. I can go without food,  for a while, obviously, I can go without clothes,   I can go without comfort, I can go without warmth,  I can go without freedom, I can go without care,   I can endure pain, I can endure danger, I can  endure persecution, I can endure suffering,   I can endure threat, I can endure all of that  on the outside because I am so strengthened   on the inside. See, when you get to the point  where you are at the end of your resources and   you’re dependent on the Lord and you see the  movement of His power, you find contentment. Look with me for a moment at Ephesians chapter 3.  One of my favorite texts in all the Word of God.   Ephesians chapter 3 and verse 14, one of the  great prayers of the apostle Paul. He says,   “I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every  family in heaven and on earth derives its name,   that He would grant you.” That’s his opening to  his prayer. And then, he launches into the most   phenomenal, rich prayer. What are you praying  for? “Well, I’m praying that He would grant you  

according to the riches of His glory,” look at  this, “to be strengthened with power through His   Spirit in the inner man.” What Paul experienced  he prayed the Ephesians would experience:   that inner strength that makes us sufficient,  adequate, content in any situation. And the   result of that? Verse 20, “Now, to Him who  is able to do exceeding abundantly beyond all   that we ask or think, according to the power  that works within us, to Him be the glory.” Paul is saying, “I’m praying that you’ll be  strengthened with power through His Spirit   in the inner man, and when you’re strengthened  with power through His Spirit in the inner man,   you are able to do exceeding abundantly beyond  all you can ask or think according to that   power.” In other words, you as a believer have a  resource within you, the life of God within you,   which is a power source that can sustain  things that you don’t imagine it can sustain.   Sometimes a parent will say to me when they  hear about the loss of a child, they’ll say,   “I don’t think I could ever endure that,  I don’t think I could ever make that. I   don’t think I could ever survive that.” And  I’ve often said to myself, “I don’t know if   I could survive that kind of thing, or the loss  of my life partner, some great tragedy. I don’t  

know if I could survive that.” But I believe  that the Spirit of God strengthens the inner   man so that we are able to do beyond what we  think we can do, according to the power that   works in us which power is activated at  the moment when human resources are gone. You ever know anybody who had a pacemaker? It  only kicks in when their heart doesn’t work   right? It’s a sustaining power. As long as the  heart functions properly, they don’t need the   pacemaker. If it doesn’t function properly,  the pacemaker takes over. There’s a sense in   which we have this resource, this reservoir of  spiritual power that moves into action when we   have come to the end of our own resources. So, he  says, “I have the ability physically, materially   to overcome anything because I am so infused with  spiritual strength that I can do what I couldn’t   imagine I could do.” Boy, what a great promise,  what a great promise. And that’s the promise to   every believer, that if you will experience  contentment, you will learn it having come to   the extremity of your life and learn that when  you have to have the divine power, it’s there.

By the way, that latter part, “Him that  strengthens me,” needs to be looked at briefly.   The word “strengthens,” endunamo, to put power in,  it means to infuse with strength. And that’s what   the Lord does. The Lord infuses us with strength.  He puts it in us when we are at our extremities. Beloved, this is what brings contentment. When  you have learned not to depend upon your own   resources, but when you’ve been to the desert,  when you’ve been to the valley, when you’ve been   to the extremity, when you’ve stood in the valley  of the shadow of death, you’ve been on the brink,   you can’t resolve your problems, you can’t  eliminate the conflict, you can’t solve the   marriage, you can’t do anything about the kids,  you can’t change the environment at work that   you’re involved in, you have no way that you can  deal with the disease that’s wracking your body   and you come to the point where you are out of  resources, you turn to God, you find the strength   that is there to go through this situation. And  in that, lies your experience of contentment.

Now, having said all of that, I must say this.  Somebody will say to me, “Well, you know,   I’ve been to the end of myself, I’ve been to  the end of my rope, I’ve come to the limit of   all of my resources and I didn’t find anything  there to comfort me. I wasn’t content, and I’m   not content.” Let me tell you why. I believe that  when you have come to the end of your resources,   you will only experience the power of God and the  contentment that comes with it if at the end of   your resources you have been moving, now listen  carefully, in the will of God. Let me tell you   what I mean. If you’ve been living a life of sin,  and you’re now at the bottom of the pit where sin   has led you, don’t expect the Lord to step in,  deliver His power, and bring you contentment.   What He might do is add chastening to the pain  that your circumstances have already produced.

Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones in writing his book on  spiritual depression, of course he was a medical   doctor, he was a physician to the queen before  he felt the call of God to preach and teach the   Word of God. And he suggested that this matter  of looking at God’s power coming into action   at the end of our resources was similar to the  issue of health. He put it this way. He said,   “Health is something that results from right  living. Health cannot be obtained directly or   immediately or in and of itself. There is  a sense in which I am prepared to say that   a man should not think of his health as such  at all. Health is the result of right living.   And I say exactly the same thing about this  question of power in our Christian lives.” What he is simply saying is that health is the  end product of living right. May I express to   you that the power of God that brings contentment  is the end of right living spiritually. He uses   this illustration. He says, “Take the question  of preaching. No subject is discussed more   often than power in preaching. ‘O that I might  have power in preaching,’ says the preacher,   and he goes on his knees and he prays for power. I  think that may be quite wrong. It certainly is if  

it’s the only thing the preacher does. The way to  have power is to prepare your message carefully.   Study the Word of God, think it out, analyze  it, put it in order, do your utmost. That is the   message God is most likely to bless, the indirect  approach rather than the direct. It is exactly the   same in this matter of power to live the Christian  life. In addition to our prayer for power,   we must obey certain primary rules and laws.  The secret of power is to discover and to learn   from the New Testament what is possible for us  in Christ. What I have to do is go to Christ,   I must spend my time with Him, I must  meditate upon Him, I must get to know Him.   I must practice the Christian life. I  must do what He tells me. I must read   the Bible. I must live the Christian  life in all its fullness.” End quote.

Now, what he is saying is obvious: that the  power is the result of the right living. Just   like health is the result of right living in  the physical dimension. The point is this:   when you come to the end of your extremity,  the power of God will be there and with it,   contentment if you’ve been living right. You  see, the problem we have today is we have all   these people, quote-unquote, “Christians” who are  living sinful wicked unfaithful lives. Then, they   have problems. And when they get to the extremity  of that problem and cannot solve it and do not   see the power of God to change the situation,  they want to run off and get a quick fix. And   they’ve never dealt with the real issue. Listen,  you can’t get the power of God from a counselor,   you can’t get the power of God from a therapist,  you can’t get the power of God from some formula,   you can’t just change your entire life,  experience the fullness of the power of   God and contentment if you’ve been living  a sinful pattern. There’s no quick fix.

Paul says, “Look, I can go through anything in  the strength of Christ, but I can’t do it without   the strength of Christ and the strength of Christ  is only his when he walks in obedience.” And so,   you see, people who run off to get somebody to  fix them, one, probably don’t understand the   power of Christ; two, may not know the power of  Christ because this is the product of their own   sin. Sometimes it’s not the product of their own  sin; sometimes they need biblical instruction,   biblical encouragement, biblical counsel and  help. But many, many people are looking for   a quick fix of a pattern of sin that has  led them to a result they can’t resolve,   that never will be resolved until  they begin to live an obedient life. Let me give you a classic illustration, and I get  these all the time. But here’s a letter that came   a couple of days ago to my desk. “Dear John, I  cheated on my husband, second marriage, for about   11 years, ever since we had been married. This  consisted of several short-term affairs, a couple   of long-term affairs, a few one-night stands, and  some miscellaneous messing around, probably 12 to   15 men in all. I basically loved my husband, but I  knew that I was not 100 percent committed to him,  

obviously, but had no idea how to change that.  I was a miserable and lost soul. I had no sense   of self-worth, was very moody, discontented  and shopped a lot, and bought a lot of things   to try to satisfy my emptiness. I’m a very adept  liar, and I manage to deceive my husband as well   as everyone else. I was still able to function  pretty well most of the time in spite of all this,   and most people actually thought I was a good  person because I hid the bad side of me so well. I   put on a very good front for most of the world to  see, but I felt like I had on a mask all the time.   If anyone ever told me I was attractive, I would  say to myself, if you could only see what’s inside   of me you wouldn’t say that. I guess I should also  mention I had an abortion, a baby conceived by my   second husband while I was still married to my  first. We separated. I had the abortion then   married my present husband a year and a half later  after living with him most of the time. Anyway,   because of recurring depression I went for  counseling. Three years ago I went for counseling   for two years. I think I better understand some  of my reasons for doing the things I did because   of this but in no way did I change. My background  is that of a Christian home. In fact, my father   was a minister and I accepted Christ. I really  never understood what it was to follow Christ,   I went through a lot of the motions as I was  growing up but it didn’t mean much to me. As soon   as I left home to go to college, I rejected  everything, went on my merry way. My heart was   very cold to the things of God and I’m sure Satan  was happy to oblige by hardening it even more.”

She says, “Maybe two or three times in my deepest  depression and despair I cried to God to help me,   but I didn’t bother to say I was sorry for what  I was doing. And since I never heard from Him,   I was totally convinced He hated me  and didn’t ever want to have anything   to do with me again. This added to my  misery and feeling of worthlessness.”   Then, this, “I’m living proof of the Holy  Spirit’s power to transform a person’s heart   and behavior. Not all convictions for a changed  life came at once. It’s been a gradual process   for certain things.” She mentions things  like giving in church and things like that.   “But one thing did change immediately because I  believed God knew it was most important to me:   the thought of ever being with another man simply  abhors me. Then, after a very short time I stopped   and realized that I was committed to my unsaved  husband and my marriage 100 percent, and that I   loved him with all my heart and would never  do anything again to dishonor him. This was   not something I had specifically asked for,  it just happened. I had a deep feeling of joy   and contentment, a word I thought I would  never know the meaning of in my lifetime.” Well, how do you experience the sustaining  power of God and contentment? It is the result   of what? Of obedience. How do you expect to  have contentment if you’re hopping in and out   of bed with everyone and live that kind of  lifestyle? Of course you’ll be a miserable   person. God only knows when this girl was truly  saved, but it doesn’t change the point that the  

sustaining power and contentment of God is  provided to the one who in an obedient life   has come to the end of his resources. Therein  is the sufficiency that brings contentment. How can you know contentment? How can I  know contentment? Being confident in God’s   sovereign providence, being satisfied with  little, being independent of circumstances,   and being sustained by God’s power. There’s one  other point and I’m going to explain it next week,   but I’m going to give it to you this  morning. Here’s the fifth point,   the fifth factor in contentment:  concern for the well-being of others,   concern for the well-being of others. If you  spend your whole life worrying about you,   you’ll probably never be content. As soon as  you cease to be concerned about you and become   lost in concern for others, you will experience  contentment. The reason Paul was so content in   any situation was that he was never the issue to  himself. Verse 17 will give you the idea. He says,   “Not that I seek the gift itself, but I seek for  the profit which increases to your account.” What  

a great statement. He says, “Now, you sent me that  gift to meet my needs, not that I needed the gift,   I’m rejoicing not because I got the gift but  because you gave it. What do you mean? Well,   it will profit to your account. What  does that mean? We gave the money away,   that doesn’t profit our account. No, no,  he’s not talking materially, he’s talking   what? Spiritually. What he is saying is you’re  going to know the blessing of God. In fact,   he says it in verse 19. “My God is going to  supply,” what? “All your needs.” You see,   what makes me happy is not that I’ve got the gift,  but that you got the blessing when you gave it.   There’s a man who is more concerned that the  Philippians be blessed than that he be blessed,   more concerned that they receive the  benediction of God than that he have his   needs met. That is so basic to contentment, to  be concerned about others more than ourselves.

We’re going to dig into that point in the few  verses remaining in this text next Sunday,   and I’m also going to talk about  the principles that unfold here for   giving. It’s a tremendous passage that  culminates in that great 19th verse,   “My God shall supply all your needs.”  But we’ll have to wait until next time. Father, thank You for our time this morning.  What a joy to worship and praise You together,   again for the instruction that  You have granted us in Your Word.   We thank You. We pray that we might experience  the contentment that comes to those who trust,   those who are satisfied with little,  those who live above the circumstances,   those who are sustained by Your power as a result  of an obedient life, those who are more concerned   with others than with self. May we know that  contentment. Thank You for such a gift. Amen.

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