Learn to Be Content

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The mall is a dangerous place.  On a few rare occasions, I have gone to the mall because I actually needed something.  Most of the time, though, I’ve walked through the mall just to check things out…and that is a dangerous idea.  Because I never realized how pathetic my cell phone was until I saw the new iPhone 4.  And I forgot how few polo shirts I had until I saw the stack of them at Express.  And who knew I was hungry until that delightful man in the food court let me try General Tso’s chicken?  Has the mall ever gotten to you like that?  Brainwashed you into saying the things that make store managers smile?  “Well, it’s on sale and I’ll need a new one soon anyway—so it’s not really an expense, but an investment!”

Ever been there?  You thought everything was okay and then the mall got to you…or Best Buy got to you…or the car lot got to you…or your girlfriend’s purse got to you…or the commercials got to you…or your neighbor’s new T.V. got to you.  And your vocabulary made that subtle, but telling, switch from “I’d like to get that” to “I NEED” that.

That’s no accident.  Because advertising exists to convince people they shouldn’t be content.  And they take that job very seriously.  In 2008, U.S. advertisers spent more than $412 billion to let Americans know they didn’t have enough just yet.  That money hasn’t been wasted.  You may have a family van, but does it have dual climate control for your wife who is always freezing?  Your girls may have shoes, but do they light up like Rhythm and Booms AND have all the Disney princesses on them?  You may have golf clubs, but does your driver have slice-protection?  You may have an XBOX, but do you have Kinect?  Madden 2012?  A wireless headset?  You may have the ability to call people in Sweden, but can you text them unlimitedly?  Every day with every billboard, every coupon, and every commercial, we are told we should not be content.

What does all of that have to do with the Bible?  Everything.  This entire summer, God has been teaching us how to have endless joy.  But advertisers don’t want you to have that.  It would mean you wouldn’t “need” anything to be happy.  That’s why they preach 10,000 sermons every week to indoctrinate you into a life of discontentment.  But God loves us too much to let that happen.  He wants us to always be content so we can always rejoice in his promises.  So, let’s study his simple teaching on contentment.

                In Philippians 4, the Apostle Paul uses a thank you later to teach the Christians from Philippi about contentment.  “¹⁰I 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. ¹¹ I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. ¹² I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.”

                Remember where Paul was when he wrote these words.  In Rome, under house arrest.  Jailed for a crime he didn’t commit.  Wasting away for years as the court case dragged on.  Should he have been content?  Every marketer would said, “Not a chance!  Life is unfair, Paul.  You don’t have a home.  You don’t have your books.  You don’t have your clothes.  The food in this joint is terrible.  Paul, you don’t have enough to be content!”  Yet, how did Paul feel?  “I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances.”  Whether at an all-you-can eat buffet or eating Ramen with his fingers.  Whether dozing on a pillow-top or crashing in a damp prison cell.  Paul’s contentment was completely independent of what he had, where he was, and how he lived.

                Was Paul just wired differently than we are?  Did he just have some special gift to be okay with less?  No.  Look at v.11—“I have learned to be content.”  And then in v.12—“I have learned the secret of being content.”  Paul learned it.  Someone taught him how to be okay with what he had.  Once he learned the secret, he could rejoice…because he was always content.

Do you know the secret?Have you learned how to keep your joy when she has more shoes and he has a better car and they have a better house and they have PS3 and Wii?Have you learned that secret so well you can walk through the mall emotionally unscathed?Even if you don’t know the secret, I would bet you want to—the simplicity, the stress-free feeling, the joy, the lack of envy and jealousy.To be okay with life right here, right now.Who wouldn’t want that?

Near the end of World War I, photographer Eric Enstrom heard a knock on the door of his studio.When he opened it, a kind old man stood outside, selling foot-scrapers.The sales pitch turned into a conversation, which turned into an invitation to come inside, which turned into a photo opportunity Enstrom would never forget.Finding an old book, a bowl of gruel, and a loaf of bread, Enstrom asked the old man to sit at the table and pray.Quite naturally, the old man folded his hands over the simple meal and bowed his head.  As soon as the negative was developed, Enstrom was sure he had something special.  In his words, "This man doesn't have much…but he has more than most people because he has a thankful heart."  That old man learned the secret, just like Paul.

So, what was the secret?  What did that old man believe?  What do we need to learn to be content in any and every situation?  Paul tells us.  In v.19, he writes, “My God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.”  The secret of contentment is believing God is a provider.  God will give exactly what we need.  God will provide plenty when we need it.  God will let us be in need when we need it.  God will always provide exactly what we need at exactly the right time as he carries out his perfect plan for our lives.  Paul believed that.  That made him content at his richest and at his poorest.  Arriving at that attitude was not easy, but Paul confessed, “I can do everything through him who gives me strength.”

God is a provider.  That’s the secret.  It’s called a secret because not many people actually believe it.  They believe they need more to be happy or something different to be happy or someone different; they’ll only be happy when they get this or when they finally earn enough for that or when they work there or live here.  Envy and jealousy and worry and fear all surround the belief that God won’t provide.  But once you know the secret—God will—those things just seem to disappear.  Even marketing’s megaphone won’t be able to drown out the whispered secret of the Holy Spirit—you have all that you need right now.

So let’s take a moment and thank God for being a provider.  God, thank you for providing the food we ate this weekend.  God, thank you for providing shirts and shorts and shoes.  God, thank you for providing legs to walk, brains to think, mouths to sing, eyes to see, and ears to hear.  God, thank you for providing grace, that love we didn’t deserve.  Thank you for providing your Son to give us strength and to take away our sins.  Thank you for providing forgiveness for discontented days.  Thank you, Jesus, for providing a perfect life in our place.  Thank you for rising from the dead to provide peace as we approach death.  Thank you for providing a place in heaven for us.  Thank you for providing faith to believe these things that seem too good to be true.  Thank you for providing a life on this earth that is much bigger than just dying with the most toys.  Thank you for providing us a church, a community of believers who provide for our physical and spiritual needs.  God, help us never to forget that secret—you have provided and you will provide, just as you’ve promised.

When you learn to see God as a provider, something strange will happen to you.  I’m not sure if you’ll believe me when I say it, but maybe that’s why it’s called a “secret”.  You’ll probably think it’s some devious trick to make money, but a few of you know it’s true because you’ve experienced it.  Here’s what will happen to you:  You will have more fun giving stuff than getting it.  Maybe right now, you believe you’d be miserable without your shoe collection or your flat screen or your V8 or your 2,000 square feet or your cable package.  Maybe you see generosity as some great sacrifice you’d have to make where you give up so much.  Maybe right now, you think it is more blessed to get than it is to give.

That’s why I want to tell you about Mike Foster.  In 2006, Mike Foster was driving a fully loaded Infiniti G35 and making a ridiculous car payment.  But keeping up with the lifestyle of his community was not making him content.  So he made a drastic decision.  Foster sold his luxury car and purchased a 1993 Toyota Camry with 150,000 miles.  He then took his entire car payment and donated it to a charity that feeds impoverished children around the world.  The windshield was cracked.  The A.C.didn’t work.  But did that rob Foster of his joy?  Just the opposite.  He said, “I’m so much happier knowing that I’m giving to those in need and not [just enjoying] my 15 minute ride to work.”  Soon after, Foster founded The Junky Car Club, an organization whose motto is “Living with less so we can give more.”  Their website is filled with men and women posing in front of their rusted-out, paint-peeling 1990 Mazda or 1993 Plymouth Voyager.  It’s not that they can’t afford a car made in this millennium.  It’s just that they are more content when they give their car payment away.  You should see their faces.  Not pained with some great sacrifice.  But beaming with the joy of giving.

The more generous you are, the more content you become.It seems backwards, but it’s true.It seems if we bought more, had more, and saved more, we’d be more joyful, more secure, but that never seems to work.In fact, it only makes us more worried about protecting our stuff and less content.In Acts 20, Jesus says, “It is more blessed to give than to receive.”In 1 Tim. 6, Paul commands us “to be generous…so that [we] may take hold of the life that is truly life.”More blessed.The life that is truly life.Foster said he was “much happier”.That’s life when you know the secret.

Then, when God gives you a lot, you can enjoy it without needing even more.You can enjoy the car, the house, the phone, and the tickets for what God meant them to be—a temporary pleasure.And when God give you just a little, you can be okay with it and not need more.You will learn “the secret of being content in any and every situation.”

I want us to be a church that is content with little so we can give away lots.  I want us to be a church that is so thankful God has given us his Son that we really don’t need anything else to rejoice.  I want us to truly believe it is better, more fun, more fulfilling to give stuff than to get it.  I want us to learn contentment and then teach that secret to our kids.  I want us to tell them during every commercial, “Jesus didn’t have one of those and he was pretty happy.”  I don’t want us to be legalistic and judge every person who has a new car or a nice home or designer shoes.  It’s not sinful to have nice stuff.  But I do want us to be so excited about the joy of generosity that all that stuff loses its ability to impress us.  I want us to grow in faith so much that we can say, with Paul, “I can do everything through him who gives me strength.”  Amen.