Sermon Transcript
Well, we’re in the final message in the book of Philippians today. So we’ve been studying the book for 3 months, and today we wrap it up in chapter 4. So if you have your Bible, I encourage you to flip on over there. If this is the first time you’re with us, welcome to the end of the book of Philippians. We’ve really had a great study through the book.
It’s been encouraging. I hope you’ve learned a lot. I’ve learned a lot from it, and it’s been very beneficial, I think, for the whole church. So we’ll wrap this up today, and then we’re going to have a few weeks focused on the holidays, focus on Christmas next week, and then a couple weeks on New Year’s. And then on January the 10th, we’re going to start a brand new series in the next book.
So we’ve been studying Philippians, and the next book is Colossians.
Okay, it’s been a while since we went through the books of the Bible, I guess. But anyway, so the book of Colossians is next, and that’s where we’re actually gonna go. We’re gonna start a series there in January.
We’re going to do the same thing that we’ve done with the book of Philippians. We’re going to make it available to you in an inductive study form. Many of you picked up some of the pamphlets related to Philippians and have studied it inductively through with us as we’ve been focusing on this. We’re going to do the same thing with Colossians. So, next couple of weeks, be looking for those to come out.
You can begin to read Colossians and start to think about it and make it not only just a Sunday morning experience, but a weekly and a weekday experience for you as well. Today in the focus that we have, we come to what may be one of the hardest things in life to learn. I’d like to say it’s the golf swing. I still don’t understand the golf swing. I’m still trying to get that one down.
I went out and played golf again on Friday, and it was not that great of an experience. I’ve done this for 40 years. You think that by now I would have learned the golf swing. You know, I feel so often like the guy who’s on the first tee, and he was about ready to hit the ball, and the pro shot got on the PA system and said, would the guy on the ladies’ tee please move back to the men’s tee? And he just looked at him and went right back to about to hit the shot.
And again, the guy in the pro shop got on the PA system and said, listen, would the guy on the red tee please move back to the white tee? That— he stopped and he looked at the guy in the pro shop and said, would the guy on the PA system please be quiet while the guy on the ladies’ tee hits his second shot?
A little dribble, I guess, from the white tea to the red tea, but you get the picture. And so often, you know, I go out there and we do the same thing. But for you, you know, if you think about the hardest thing in life for you to learn, maybe right now it’s connected to school and something you’re going through in school, and you’re just saying, I’m going to never get this. This is never going to come together for me. And the fact is, next week I got finals and I don’t know how I’m going to ever learn this information.
But I’m trying the best that I can. It could be in a relationship. It could just be that things aren’t going well in your relationship and you’re just trying to figure out how to get along. Or maybe it has to do with, you know, that maxim, it’s better to listen much and speak little. And you’re still trying to learn to not always be the one talking, you know, to when something comes up, instead of spouting out how you feel, it’s just holding back and, and, you know, putting a little space in the situation.
Or maybe it’s connected to resting. You’re trying to learn how to rest. You know, when you get a chance to rest, you really don’t rest. You’re always doing something, something else. The idea of taking a Sabbath, well, you heard that’s a good idea from, you know, the scriptures, but you just can’t do that.
And so you are still trying to learn how to rest or how to take a Sabbath. Or maybe it’s connected to eating. It was easy to learn how to eat. It’s hard to learn how not to eat, you know, to stop eating. You know, I gotta push away from the table.
A couple weeks ago, right after Thanksgiving, I was over at the gym and one of the guys there said to a friend, hey, how was your Thanksgiving? And the guy said, well, it was pretty good except I ate too much. And then he went on to say, and I said to myself before we had the dinner I was not going to eat too much. Well, I ate too much. One of these days maybe I’ll figure it out.
There are so many different things in life we can learn, right? We’re gonna come to a passage. I guess in some ways this passage and the focus here can connect with any area of life, but it connects with this whole matter of contentment, of contentment. I had somebody come up to me after the first service and they said, I’m not a fan of contentment. I’m not a fan of contentment at all.
And they talked about achievement and things like that. Now, don’t misunderstand what we’re gonna focus on this morning. To be content doesn’t mean you’re gonna also be complacent, okay? So you can be content and still be a person of achievement or a person who uses the giftedness that God gives you and your talents and your brains and all of that. But in the process of doing all of that, there still needs to be within our spirit or our disposition this contentment, this inner contentment and peace and satisfaction that comes oftentimes in circumstances where you’ve done the best that you can, but you could just be torn up inside with frustration because it’s not turning out the way you want it, whatever it is.
And the Apostle Paul says in Philippians 4:12, I’ve learned the secret of being content in any and every circumstance. I mean, that’s amazing. All the circumstances in life that he can think of at this point in time, and maybe it’s a little hyperbole, but he’s saying, I’ve learned the secret. There’s a secret. I’ve learned the secret of being content in any circumstance that I’m faced with in life.
Now that encourages me because it tells me that we can make progress in contentment. It also encourages me because here’s the Apostle Paul saying, you know, I had to learn to be content. This is a spiritual giant. So even a spiritual giant struggled with contentment, just like we struggle with contentment wherever we are in our spiritual journey. One of the questions you could just ask yourself right off the top is, have I learned the secret of contentment?
You know, would I even know what the secret of contentment is? I mean, what would I even point to? Well, we’re going to find out this morning. And I really think we need this because we live in a world that breeds discontentment. Wouldn’t you agree with that?
I mean, we breed discontentment. We always want something bigger and better and faster and newer and cuter. And you name it. Now that’s the world that we live in. And so we’re constantly under, you know, barrage from advertisements of all different kinds.
In fact, let me show you an advertisement this morning. This is an advertisement that appeared a few years ago, but it’s such a good advertisement because they come at you in just this real friendly way. They tell this little story and they kind of, you know, suck you in, but nonetheless they’re trying to sell something. Watch this ad just for a minute.
Now isn’t that great? Absolutely. Especially on the week where Star Wars is going to come out, I figured you’d enjoy seeing the connection here. But I just love that commercial. It just It makes you want to have a car that you can start from the inside of your house, doesn’t it?
Do you have one? We’re not going to raise our hands on this, but you know, if you don’t, you feel like, I got to get one of those so I don’t have to go out in the rain and start my car. I could just start it inside the house. And wow, I need one of those. Probably wasn’t thinking about that before, but now, you know, we see the ad and, well, why not?
How did Black Friday go for you? Were able to resist all of the ads that came out on Black Friday and, you know, all the hype on Black Friday or Cyber Monday. I opened my Gmail on Cyber Monday. This is what it looked like. All of these are ads.
Okay. All of these are ads. I thought I was trying to keep away from ads, but all of these are ads. So I deleted them all. And then many more came back later in the day and Tuesday came around and it was Cyber Monday revisited.
I don’t know what it was. You know, you thought it was over. Not really. And so there were more ads. And what’s that all about?
It’s all about preying on this discontentment sense that most of us live with all the time. So this passage can really be helpful to us. It comes from Apostle Paul, who obviously was somebody who was moving in the right direction when it comes to the spiritual life. We want to do the same. And it can help us with the feelings that we have, the struggles that we have to live with contentment.
If you’re in debt right now, it could be created by a lot of discontentment, especially at this time of year, right? You buy gifts for others and you think, well, that’s not enough. I gotta buy more. Well, where’s that coming from? There’s some kind of something going on inside of us that’s driving that sense of buying more than perhaps is really needed right now.
So let’s look at this. Some secrets for living with contentment. 5 needed learnings, you can call it. Paul begins this way, I rejoice greatly, Philippians 4:10, I rejoice greatly in the Lord that at last you have renewed your concern for me. Indeed, you have been concerned, but you had no opportunity to show it.
This is good because it takes us right back to the beginning of the book of Philippians. The context of Philippians is the Apostle Paul is in jail. He’s in Rome, he’s in chains. So he’s suffering there, he needs help. And the church that he writes to, the book of Philippians is written to the church at Philippi, the church that he writes to wants to help him, but for some unknown reasons, they don’t give the reasons here, the church could not help Paul before now.
But I want you to notice his spirit about this. He’s in need, the church wants to help him, they’re not able to help him until finally now, but Paul is okay. He’s gracious in his response to this church, he’s understanding, and even more so, he’s rejoicing greatly in the Lord’s gifts that now have been given by this church They weren’t given 2 years before when he was imprisoned. They weren’t given 2 years all through this 2-year period of time, but they’re finally given now. So what’s he doing?
He’s expressing contentment in this way. He is expressing how we need to rejoice in the Lord’s plan. One of the learnings for all of us in this area of contentment is just learning to rejoice in the Lord’s plan instead of complaining about how things are right now and how we wish things would change. You don’t get that from the Apostle Paul at all. Fine, it’s been 2 years.
I’ve been okay. It’s fine. But oftentimes in the circumstances we find ourselves in, it’s so easy to just get frustrated and to question, don’t you care about me? I mean, if you really cared, you’d be doing something. Or maybe question God.
God, where are you right now? Why aren’t you sending some people to help me in the circumstance that I’m finding myself in right now? Don’t you care? Where’s help? What’s going on, Lord?
I said to the first hour, and I think they really identified with this, but there’s a strong feeling right now in the church that we ought to get back into the worship center. And you know what? I agree with that. We want to get back into the worship center. And believe it or not, behind the scenes, we’re working really hard to get back into the worship center.
And those who are working the hardest are those that are setting up and taking this stage down. Week after week after week. I mean, they’re like, yeah, can we please get back there? Because this thing is a pill. It really is.
It’s a pain in the neck, and we appreciate all the work that they’re doing week after week. And so there’s been this drive, there’s been all the work that they can do to work with the companies to move this project along, but the fact of the matter is that some promises that were made have not been kept. We thought that work would begin in November. It did not begin in November. Now we’re at December something, and it hasn’t yet begun.
It’s probably not going to begin over there in any part of December, which means it’s probably going to be in January. Now that could be very frustrating, right? I mean, it could actually get us to the point where we don’t have any joy about this thing, or we could take the perspective that the Apostle Paul takes here, which is, you know what, God’s working in his timing and it’s okay. And if the gifts come 2 years later, that’s fine. I’m happy with that.
I’m just rejoicing in the fact that you are able and have expressed concern. You are able to help me in the way that you have at this point in time. Now, some of us this morning, probably that’s the one thing that we could take away from this message this morning, because quite frankly, we’re really upset with the way things are going right now in our life. Maybe we’re just totally discontent with what is happening right now in the circumstances. That we’re faced with.
I was reading the account of Matthew Henry. Maybe you’re familiar with Matthew Henry. You’ve probably heard of Matthew Henry the commentator. So maybe you’ve seen the one volume. It’s a really thick book.
It’s a one-volume commentary on the whole Bible written by Matthew Henry. Well, Matthew Henry went through a lot of suffering in his life. His first wife died, and he had 3 children who died in infancy. 3 children that died in infancy. Yet people, when they talk about Matthew Henry, as they look back on his life and contemporaries, they said this: Matthew— or Henry possessed the desirable disposition and power of looking on the bright side of everything.
There was a loveliness in his spirit and a gladness in his heart which caused others to feel how happy a thing it must be to be a Christian. I mean, there he was in the midst of the circumstances that no matter what came his way, he was able to say, you know what, God’s got a plan. And he was able to be gracious and lovely in the midst of that plan, in the midst of the suffering that he went through. Contentment learns to rejoice in the Lord’s plan. Well, let’s read on.
He says, I’m not saying this, verse 11, because I’m in need, for I’ve learned to be content whatever the circumstances. And some of your translations say, I’ve learned to be content whatever the state I am in. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I’ve learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well-fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. Paul’s in, you know, a typical life situation, right?
Sometimes things are good, Sometimes things are awful. He talks about being in situations where he’s in need. He’s in other situations where he’s got plenty. He’s living in abundance. Some situations where he’s well-fed, others where he’s starving hungry.
Some situations where he has more than enough. He’s plenty again. He uses the word twice. Other situations where he doesn’t have enough. He’s in want.
What’s he telling us? He was in need. But he was living as if he had no need. A content person who has need is yet able to live as if they have no need. They learn to live with what it is that they have in life.
And that’s a second great learning, learning to live with what it is that we have. A content person is able to take the circumstances or the cards that have been dealt them, or whatever you want to call it, and they bloom where they’re planted. You’ve heard that saying before, right? So we’re able to live with the circumstances as it comes, life as it comes. It doesn’t have to be something better for me to be able to rejoice and to experience contentment in the circumstances that I’m in.
And so with the ups and downs of life, it’s living an emotionally healthy, balanced life. The American Journal of Psychiatry did a 45-year study on the emotional health of 173 men After they graduated from Harvard. Okay, so this is back in the 1940s. Interesting finding. This is their primary finding: the secret of emotional health in older men is not a successful career, a happy marriage, or a stable childhood.
It lies instead in an ability to handle life’s blows without passivity, blame, or bitterness. And what are they saying? An emotionally healthy life is able to live the life with whatever circumstances comes that way, their way. Mostly healthy people learn to live with— using the words here— with life’s blows. And if we add what Paul is saying, it’s not only life’s blows, but it’s also life’s blessings.
So they’re, they’re content in whatever state that they are in. When we moved to Phoenix, Arizona, and that caught us by surprise— some of you heard this part of the story— part of processing all of that for Bernice was taking this verse and putting this verse on the counter in our kitchen. She translated it a little bit different, but she said on the counter, I am learning to be content in whatever state I am in. Well, that’s the idea, isn’t it? Whatever state it is that I am in right now, I’m going to receive that as a gift from the Lord.
That’s a sign of emotional and spiritual health. And then he says, I can do— verse 13— I can do everything, everything through him who gives me strength. Now you’ve heard this verse before, right? I want you to see this verse in its context. We’ve heard this verse.
We’ve seen this verse. We’ve seen this verse on athletes’ faces where, you know, they’ve used the black grease, the eye grease under their eyes, and they’ve taken and they’ve put Philippians 4:13 underneath it like Tim Tebow did and other athletes like that. We’ve seen Philippians 4:13 on shirts. We’ve even seen them on baby shirts, which is interesting. This isn’t one of our children, but The point is, is that this verse shows up in a lot of places.
Sometimes it shows up on people’s bodies, you know, tattoos, whatever it is. But what I want you to see here is I want you to see the context of this verse. This verse doesn’t just come out of nowhere, right? The context of this verse is in the context of contentment. I can do everything through him who gives me strength.
I can live in the good times of life, and I can live in the bad times of life. I can live when I’ve got everything going my way, and I can live in the times of life where I’ve got nothing going my way. What’s this teaching us? If we’re going to be content, as the Apostle Paul had learned, we need to learn to rely on God’s power, to rely on God’s power. Now, how’s that done?
Well, Paul wrote a lot about staying connected to God. We stay connected to God through the work of the Holy Spirit. So it’s, it’s living in the fullness of the Holy Spirit. We’re to be filled with the Holy Spirit. We’re to walk in the Spirit.
We’re to live by the Spirit. We’re to follow the Spirit’s lead. We’re to yield to the Spirit. We’re not to quench the Spirit. We’re not to grieve the Spirit.
See, all of that is indicative of a vital relationship with God through Jesus Christ. And so it’s a picture of staying connected. We put up Christmas lights a couple weeks ago, and after I put the Christmas lights up, there was a section that did not come on. It didn’t come on. It was at the end of the Christmas lights.
All the other Christmas lights came on, and Bernice said, can you go out there and fix that? And I went out there and looked at that, couldn’t fix it, didn’t have enough time. So a couple days later I came back and I realized that, guess what, it wasn’t plugged in. So I plugged it in, and you know what, it works pretty good. Yeah.
It’s awesome. It lit everything up. And essentially that’s what he’s saying here is that if you’re going to learn to live with contentment, you got to stay plugged in. You got to stay connected to the power source because God’s power is perfected in weakness. And in our weakness, we will easily fall into the trap of discontentment.
So how do you prevent that from happening? By staying connected to God, the power source. So quick illustration of this. A couple weeks ago, I was in the midst of a whole bunch of discontentment. It was working my mind over.
And I remember that I needed— I felt I needed to talk to somebody about a circumstance that just wasn’t right. I didn’t think it was right. And so my tendency oftentimes is to have a conversation like that quickly, but I had this sense in my spirit And I think it was from the Lord that it was better for me in that particular situation not to talk to this person, but to just spend some time praying about this, processing this, and probably giving a few days of sleep on it. You know, that kind of thing. You ever had these kind of feelings where the Lord was saying to you, don’t say anything right now.
Just let’s have a conversation together. Let’s get the emotions down. You’re ramped up way too much energy on this thing. Back off right now. You know, all of that.
So I backed off and spent some time praying about it and processing it in my thinking. And really at the time, it’s interesting, I was working on the message that I was— we preached through last week that had to do with our thinking. Remember and how we said that our thinking impacts our feelings and our feelings impact our actions. And so it all starts with our thinking. And, and so I’m thinking this thing through and I’m realizing my feelings are really messed up.
And the reason they’re messed up is because as I thought more about this, it was because my thinking was messed up. My thinking was skewed. I was missing the point. And so I came back to that, gave it enough time and worked this thing through. And essentially what was happening was I was staying connected to the power source and allowing God to change my thinking and slow down my emotions.
And you know what happened as a result of all of that? There was no relational train wreck. It was pretty cool. Now, I can’t say that often happens or always happens, but I can say that when it happens, usually it’s connected to the strength that God gives us to do what’s right in a tough circumstances— circumstance. Isn’t that true?
And the Apostle Paul is saying here, listen, this is more than just a little phrase that you stick on your shirt, you know, or you put on your face or whatever it is. No, this is something that we’re going to have to do daily if we’re going to be people that live with contentment. We’re going to need strength that’s beyond ours. Then he goes on, verse 14 following, he says this: Yet it was good of you to share in my troubles. Moreover, as you Philippians know, in the early days of your acquaintance with the gospel, when I set out for Macedonia, not one church shared with me in the matter of giving and receiving, except you only.
For even when I was in Thessalonica, you sent me aid again and again when I was in need. Not that I’m looking for a gift, but I’m looking for what may be credited to your account. I’ve already received full payment and even more, and I’m amply supplied now that I have received from Epaphroditus the gifts you sent. They are a fragrant offering, an acceptable sacrifice, pleasing to God. Paul launches, after having said, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me, Paul launches into this discussion about giving.
It’s fascinating. And he says, you know, you guys gave this gift, and I want you to know a couple things about this gift that you’ve given. And you notice, if you look at the text closely, that this gift came through Epaphroditus. Evidently Epaphroditus came from Philippi, this long journey. He made the journey all the way to Rome, and he brought this offering or this aid that amply supplies— notice the word amply supplies— that amply supplies the Apostle Paul’s need.
We don’t know, we’re not told why the offering or the aid wasn’t given a couple years before when the first, you know, need was known about the Apostle Paul. We’re not told any of that. No doubt it has to do with God’s providence. Maybe there was nobody in the church to make this long journey to Rome, so it wasn’t like it is today in terms of, you know, hey, I think I’ll just go to Rome tomorrow, or whatever it is. It was a whole different circumstance back then.
But Paul wants them to know, now that he’s received the gift, he wants them to know, number one, this gift has really helped me, and I want you to know that I’ve received full payment. Even more, you guys have taken care of every need that I have. And I am really grateful. So he wants them to know that. But I want you to see also the second thing that he wants them to know about this gift that he gave them.
He wants them to know that in giving that gift, they please God. In fact, the language that he uses is really wonderful here in verse 18, where he says, the gifts that you sent, they’re a fragrant offering. So you get this picture of this offering going up to heaven. They’re an acceptable sacrifice to God. They’re pleasing to God.
And they’re not only an act of worship on your part, these gifts that you’ve given that have pleased God, but also— notice this in verse 17— also God has credited your offering to your account. That’s fascinating that when we give, God— and the picture is, is it like there’s this ledger in heaven and God is crediting to our account that which we have given, or maybe it’s just the manner in which we gave, the attitude, the sacrifice that was made. And Paul wants them to realize this is a good thing. He’s commending them for their gifts, but he’s also bringing into focus the connection here between giving and contentment because it’s content people who give gifts. Those who are discontent or those who want more aren’t the people that are giving away.
They’re thinking, how can I use this for myself? Giving is a sign of contentment. And so I think one of the things that he is talking about here that’s so helpful for us is that we, we learn contentment by giving away what it is that we have. Isn’t that true? We learn contentment by giving away what we have.
And when we give away what we have, when we, let’s say, take a trip with City Team to San Francisco, maybe part of the giving away of what we have there is time, whatever it is. The point is, is that when we do that, there’s an immediate benefit. The immediate benefit is on the people that have a need, but there’s also a future benefit. And this future benefit is on the account that this creates for us with God and what happens in our life even now. I was reading this story of Liz Woodward.
I don’t know if you saw this, it was out on social media a few weeks ago, but Liz is a waiter, a waitress at a restaurant back in the Midwest. And that day a couple firefighters came into the restaurant. She said, and people around could see that these firefighters were exhausted. Evidently they had worked on a fire for 12 hours.
And as an expression of thanks, Liz, as their waitress, decided that she would write this on their bill: Your breakfast is on me today. Thank you for all that you do for serving others and for running into the places that everyone else runs away from. No matter your role, you’re courageous, brave, and strong. Thank you for being bold every day, fueled by fire and driven by courage. What an example you are.
Get some rest. And then she put a little smiley face there and signed it, Liz. Now, as you could imagine, her little gift— and yet it was a significant gift, I mean, she’s paying for their bill— her little gift put a smile on the firefighters’ faces, but also it lifted their spirits. So it was a neat thing. She didn’t think anything of it, but a couple weeks later, the firefighters found out that Liz’s father is a quadriplegic.
And he’s been paralyzed for the past 5 years. And that Liz and her family has been trying through an online website to raise money to purchase a wheelchair that would— or excuse me, a wheelchair-accessible vehicle that they could transport their father with, you know, in the wheelchair and all the rest of that. And the firemen found out about this, and so they decided they wanted to do something. So they put out on social media this: turns out the The young lady who gave us a free meal is really the one that could use the help. People responded to that.
Now the donations— I checked the website here recently— the donations have gone way past what was needed for this van. Why? Because Liz paid for 2 firefighters’ breakfasts. She gave and it came back to her. And I think that’s what the Apostle Paul is trying to say here.
You know, giving is something that ultimately is so good. It’s going to be good for you. It’s going to be good for others.
And of course, in this context of contentment, it’s going to help you be a content person. And then there’s a last point that he makes. Verse 19, and my God will meet all of your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus. To our God and Father be glory forever and ever. Amen.
What’s the last thing? Well, it’s that God gives to those who give. I mean, this is, this is amazing. It really is. If you look closely at this, this verse, and this is another one of those verses that sometimes we quote, and my God will meet all of your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.
And we drop that on people, but don’t lose the context here. Notice the and. Since you have given, God’s going to give to you. God gives to those who give, and, and my God’s going to meet your needs. You gave out of your resources and God’s going to give out of his resources.
And guess what? His resources are glorious resources. They never run out. Now, the interesting thing about this is that if you go back 5+ years ago, this was one of the churches, the church at Philippi 5+ years ago. This is one of the churches that had nothing, yet they wanted to give to a church that was in need in Jerusalem.
And the Apostle Paul wrote about these gifts that these people gave in these churches in Macedonia. So Philippi was one of the churches in Macedonia. And he said this in 2 Corinthians 8:1-4, we want you to know about the grace that God has given the Macedonian churches. Out of the most severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity. For I testify they gave as much as they were able and even beyond their ability, entirely on their own.
They urgently pleaded with us for the privilege of sharing in the service, the service to the saints. Now what’s he saying? There were these amazing churches in Macedonia that didn’t have any money, but they gave from the money that they didn’t have in spite of And they didn’t give because somebody, you know, twisted their arm. Are you kidding? They gave as a result of something that was inside of them that actually pleaded with us for the privilege of participating in the need of the church in Jerusalem.
And so they gave. And now we’re 5+ years later and we get verses 19 and 20 where Paul’s telling them, you know what, you guys have given to me and you’ve amply supplied of my needs. I just want you to know that when people give like that, God is going to give to them. God will meet not all of their wants, but God will meet all of their needs according to these abundant riches that he has in Christ Jesus. Is it no wonder then that he says, to God be the glory forever and ever.
Amen. Now, what does this say to us? Simply, the lesson here is to learn to trust God to provide. I mean, basically he’s saying when you give even what you don’t have, you need to know God is gonna give back to you. And the reason why this church is able to give right now is because God had given back to them after they gave out of their poverty.
Some of us right now are still waiting for the right day to start giving to churches that are in need or to people that are in need. You know when you wanna start giving? It’s right now. It’s to give a portion of what God gives to you right now to the needs that are before you that you have the opportunity to give to. And it says, and when you give, and, and when you give, my God, my God will provide for your needs.
He will take care of your needs. Otherwise, it’s said this way, you will never be able to outgive God. And when we give that way, God gives more contentment.
My son Brent this morning got on an airplane to go to Haiti. It was a last-minute trip. It was not a trip that he wanted to take. When we had the conversation with him yesterday by FaceTime, we talked through all of this. He said that his company— he has a documentary film company there in Austin, Texas.
He said that his film company repeatedly repeatedly said, no, we’re not going to do this. We’re not going to do this. No, we can’t do this. It’s not going to work, over and over and over. But they had this sense that God wanted them to do the trip.
And so they finally said, yeah, we’ll do it. And as we talked this over yesterday, Bernice said to him at one point, she said, you know, Brent, God is going to honor you for what it is that your company’s doing, for this trip that you’re taking. It’s hard to take a trip at Christmastime, isn’t it? Any of you who travel, you know, I mean, it’s like the last time in the world you want to take a trip.
But they got in an airplane this morning to go to Haiti. They’re going to be there a few days, try to help an organization, do a film for them, see what they can do to help people that are in need. And the promise is, is that when we do that kind of thing, God knows. God credits it to our account, and he won’t forget.
You know, one of the things I love about the Apostle Paul is he’s just trying to help people like us, isn’t he? People are just normal people who struggle with contentment. We struggle with life. Even at the very end, he’s saying, greet all the saints in Christ Jesus. The brothers who are with me send greetings.
I mean, he’s just thinking about this church family. I just love you guys. Just greet each other for me. All the saints send you greetings, especially those who belong to Caesar’s household. You could just see them.
It’s like one big happy family. Just We’re all in this together, people. I love this little addition here, especially, especially those of Caesar’s household. That’s a clue that there were people that were prisoned or that were chained to the Apostle Paul that are now Christians. You know, why is God happy here in Rome?
Why does he have me in chains for a couple of years? Well, maybe he wanted you to be a witness to your guards And maybe some of those guards who are a part of Caesar’s household would come to faith in Christ. And maybe there would be a day where actually you might even mention those who now belong to the Lord and are a part of Caesar’s household. Maybe God wanted to do something in this Roman ruler and his household. Who knows?
And then he says, the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Amen. He ends the book where it started. It’s all about the grace of Christ. I mean, why are we doing this?
Why are we in the family? Why are we saints? Why do we want to grow up in Christ? Because God in his grace saved us and he put us in his family. And here at the very end, it’s all about the grace again.
It’s about the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. And may God’s grace give you the strength and energy and perspective, and may God’s grace help you forgive yourself. For all of those wrongdoings. And some of us just beat ourselves up over and over and over. Nothing is ever enough, and nothing is ever good enough.
And, you know, the grace of Christ— isn’t that interesting that here at the very end, having talked about one of the hardest things to learn, contentment, he brings it back to the grace of Christ? What’s he doing? He’s putting others first. That’s like, you know, chapter 2 and chapter 3. It’s all about thinking of others is more important than yourself.
And really, when we do that, that’s essentially— that’s what contentment’s all about. Yesterday I got an email from somebody who said this: Today’s my 41st birthday. I decided to donate my birthday to The Hope Effect, a ministry focused on providing homes for orphans. I already have all I need, he wrote in this letter. With food in my kitchen, clean water in my cup, a roof over my head, clothes on my back, and a family who supports me, I’m not in need.
There is truly nothing that I need for my birthday. But many, he writes, of the estimated 150 million orphans around the world do have needs. Not only do they need food and shelter and clothing, they need attention, and affection and love. They need support from a family. They need to feel cared for and safe and wanted.
The Hope Effect is providing that, and I want my birthday to stand for something important. So please consider, he said, for my birthday donating toward this need.
I never thought on my birthday of asking people instead of giving me a gift to just take the money and just send it to somebody else who actually has a need.
That’s somebody living with contentment, isn’t he? He’s content with the state that he is in, with the state that he is in. You know, the best state to live in is the best state to live in is the state of contentment.
When I finished my round of golf on Friday, I sat down for lunch with my friend, and his friend who had been playing golf with us came in. We talked for just a few minutes, and at one point he knew that we’ve lived in a few different states, and so he said, Dave, you know, of all the places you’ve lived, which one’s the best? Of course he’s thinking about, you know, he lives in Los Altos. Are you kidding? You know, which one’s the best?
And I kind of, you know, rambled through that the best that I could. I wish I would have had this answer at the top of my mind then. You know the best state to live in? It’s the state of contentment. That’s the best state to live in.
Profound. Write that down.
That’s it, right? Because then it doesn’t matter where you live and it doesn’t matter what you have. And the Apostle Paul is saying, you know, that’s, that’s what I’m learning.
Christmas is a huge test of that, isn’t it? It’s a huge test of a person’s contentment.
It’s a great time to practice being content in whatever state we’re in. Amen. Let’s pray. Lord, thanks for this morning. Thanks for this book that we’ve studied together and for all the learnings.
Thank you for the work that you’re doing in our hearts and the work that you want to continue to do. Thank you for all that you provide. And yet, even with all that you provide, we find ourselves pulled into the state of discontentment. Contentment. And we ask that you would forgive us, Lord.
We’re so grateful here for this reminder at the end that there is grace upon grace upon grace. There is forgiveness, that this life that we live is going to be lived imperfectly, but hopefully in our imperfections we discover all the more what it means to experience your grace in our life and in our relationships. And so we thank you for that. And even this morning, ask, Lord, that where there are changes you want us to make, that we will acknowledge that and yet not beat ourselves up, but receive your grace. In fact, let me say to you this morning, if you’ve never received the grace that starts this whole thing, the grace that’s found in Jesus Christ, Reach out for that this morning.
God wants a relationship with you. He has since the day you were born, and he’s made the relationship possible through his Son Jesus Christ.
He works in people’s lives like yours to help you believe, to draw you to himself, and he no doubt has been doing that. But perhaps you have just resisted time and time again. You’ve ignored what he wants to do in you.
Maybe just a different perspective would help. Just a different look at this. God wants a relationship with you. The God of the universe. Now and forever he wants a relationship with you.
But you’ve got to want it with him. And if that’s what you want, reach out to him this morning and say yes to his grace. It’s by grace that you’re saved through faith, and that’s not of yourselves. It’s a gift. Even the, the, the act of faith and believing is a gift.
It’s not a result of works, that nobody can then boast and say, I earned my salvation. It’s the result of his work, and he did the work on the cross when Jesus died paid for our sins, but you’ve got to receive the gift of salvation and the payment for sins that he made. Will you receive it this morning? Will you say yes to him?
Tell him just in your own words, just tell him. God, thank you that wherever we are in our spiritual journey, you’re interested, and you are interested enough in the church at Philippi like you are interested enough in the church here in Los Altos to give us a letter like this so that we can live in this world that breeds discontentment with contentment. And in this growing contentment in us, may we end up praising you more than we have in the past, rejoicing in the circumstances that we find ourselves in more than we have in the past, and experiencing more of your strength than we in the past, in giving more than we ever have in the past, in seeing you provide for our needs in miraculous ways. God, would you just work in us in ways even today and this week to help us take steps forward in becoming the people you long for us to be? Remind us that the best state to live in is the state of contentment.
We pray this in your name, amen. Well, let’s have our team come back and we’ll finish things off this morning with another song of rejoicing. You know, every week we’re here to be a help to you. And if after the service you’d like to pray with somebody or talk to somebody, maybe you’d like to talk more about receiving Jesus Christ, we’d love to do that. If you like a Bible, you know, I don’t have a Bible, there’s a Bible back on that table.
That’s a gift from us to you. Take one. We want you to have that. When you came in this morning, you got this. This is something that was handed to you or was in your bulletin this morning.
This is meant to be an announcement that our Christmas services where it’s just exclusively focused on Christmas will be next Sunday morning, and then we’ll also be on Christmas Eve. So we want to invite you to be a part of those. And, you know, it’d be very encouraging as we focus on Christmas. But there’s a second reason for this card, and to me, this is the more important reason. It’s to make it possible for you to invite somebody to the Christmas services.
So now that you’ve memorized the card, you don’t need the card anymore. None of us need this card anymore, right? All of us have a card that we could give to somebody else and say, Hey, why don’t you come to one of our Christmas services? Believe it or not, people are thinking about Christmas at this time of year. So this would be a wonderful invitation to invite them to a Christmas service.
And so I want to encourage you to do that. Okay, let’s go out. Let’s pray and ask God to open a door to people that we could give this to. Just pray, Lord, hey, give me the opportunity to invite somebody to a Christmas service. I think it would be wonderful.
Now you can’t control and I can’t control if they’ll come. Come, but we can control whether or not we’ll invite them. Isn’t that true? We can control that. So let’s do that.
Let’s see God potentially double the services, the number of people here this next Sunday and on Christmas Eve. Why not? Because we went out and we invited some people. So at the very least, invite them with one card, the card that you have. And if you have more faith than that, then go over there to that table and there’s a stack of cards over there and take as many as you think you’ll use and ask God to open up doors for you to invite people to be a part of the Christmas services.
Sound good? Deal? Okay. A little bit complacent on that, but anyway, you get the idea. I hope, I really hope you’ll do that.
It will be wonderful for others as well. Lord bless. Speaking of Christmas, speaking of Christmas, let’s stand, let’s sing. I think there was a solid like 3 people who got what
