THE CONTENTED CHRISTIAN

Philippians 4:10-20

Introduction: 

                                It is easier to be a Christian at some time than at others.  Circumstances sometimes press us closer to the Lord and sometimes conspire to edge us  away from Him.  Not Paul: he was a man of unshakeable contentment.  Three factors helped him to master his variable circumstances.

We cry over things we can’t have, but we might cry twice as hard if we had received them.

I.  CHRISTIAN GENEROSITY

A.  Generosity is an ever-present sentiment (v.10)

As soon as opportunity opened, they were swift to grasp it and were not afraid of giving.

One Christian has enough because another Christian is generous

    B.  Generosity as a means of Christian fellowship (14-16)

One member was suffering and all took note of it.

  

    C.  Generosity as a future treasure in heaven (17-18)

Paul was careful about receiving monetary help from the churches he founded.

 The offering of a gift enriches the giver spiritually.

In Genesis 8, the flood was followed by Noah’s burnt offering. God responded: “I will never again curse the ground. . .”

II.  CHRISTIAN DISCIPLINE

  

           A.  We must decide not to covet (v.11) 

          Paul testifies that “enough” and “contentment” are relative terms. Because he had freed himself from the covetous spirit, he was able to “ride” every sort of circumstance. 

           B.  We must learn to be content (V.11, 12)

If I cannot find contentment in my heart, I cannot find it anywhere else.

“Learned”- initiation term among the Greeks.

Paul: “I have learned” = “I have made my way up through the degrees of progressive detachment from the things of the world- and finally I have reached maturity point.”

God was testing the faith of His people, trying the quality of their devotion to Him.

III.  CHRISTIAN TRUSTFULNESS

            A.  Paul, the contented Christian, gives the sole glory to God (20)

For what was he thankful?

-              for times when the Philippians could not help him (10)

-              times of hunger and times of plenty (12)

-              churches who neglected him And churches who remembered him (15)

             B.  He had learned to be content because he has learned to trust (13)

Victor Frankl: “Everything can be taken from a man except one thing: the last of the human freedoms- to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances.”

             C.  He states the trustworthiness of God as a Christian doctrine (19)

All things (13) – every need (19); Nothing will prove beyond God’s capacity.

Conclusion:

It is finally because of Christ that Paul is contented, and it is Christ whom he offers to us as the means and guarantee of our contentment.  For Paul, the person who possesses Christ possesses all.