The Secret of Contentment

THE SECRET OF CONTENTMENT
PHILIPPIANS 4: 10-13

10 I rejoiced in the Lord greatly that now at length you have revived your concern for me. You were indeed concerned for me, but you had no opportunity. 11 Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. 12 I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. 13 I can do all things through him who strengthens me.
In the name of Jesus:
Last Monday Luann and I were driving home from Nashville Tennessee where we attended the LCEF Leadership Conference, sponsored by the National Lutheran Church Extension Fund. On our drive home we stopped just north of Cincinnati at a place called Jungle Jims. Jungle Jims is a well know supermarket, no it is more than a supermarket, it is a store that has literally anything and everything related to food. If there is ever a hard to find item that you need for a recipe, you will find it at Jungle Jims. In Lancaster we joke about Slater’s Hardware, in that if you need anything hardware related, Slater’s will have it, they have so much stuff in stock they just need to find it. Jungle Jims puts Slater’s to shame. Would you like Irn-Bru, which is a soft drink in Scotland? Jungle Jims has it. Luann found a type of cheese that she used to have for breakfast when she was an exchange student in Brazil. You get the idea, if you need it and it is food related, Jungle Jims has it from any place around the world.
But the place is overwhelming. There is so much that one does not need. You can spend hours in Jungle Jims, and spend a fortune on items that you don’t need. Luann and I spent an hour in the store, just browsing and buying a few things, so few we could go through the express aisle. But if you spend any time in the store, the sheer volume of stuff would overwhelm you. Luann and the girls are planning a day trip around Christmas just to go and look. But our time at Jungle Jims reminds me of another story.
In the fifth century, a man named Arenius determined to live a holy life. So he abandoned the comforts of Egyptian society to follow an austere lifestyle in the desert. Yet whenever he visited the great city of Alexandria, he spent time wandering through its bazaars. Asked why, he explained that his heart rejoiced at the sight of all the things he didn't need. Think about that for a moment. Those of us who live in a society flooded with goods and gadgets need to ponder the example of that desert dweller. A typical supermarket in the United States in 1976 stocked 9,000 articles; today it carries 30,000. It is estimated that Jungle Jims is stocked with over 150,000 items. But how many of them are absolutely essential?
How many of the things in your life that you have accumulated are absolutely essential? How much of the stuff that is on your Christmas list is stuff that you can live without? As Americans, we, in spite of a recession, are still one of the richest countries on the planet. We have more stuff that we throw away than the majority in our world has for their own possessions! Which begs the question, how much is enough?
You see, we need to learn, above all other things, the meaning and the secret of contentment. In spite of our material riches, we are not content. We are not satisfied. Far from it, if we see something new, we want it before the store runs out, if there is a newest gadget that is to make our lives easier, we want it, but in the end, our lives are still filled with things in which moth and rust destroy and it is the type of stuff that thieves break in and steal.
Listen to what God says: “You shall not covet anything that belongs to your neighbor.” We are to fear and love God that we do not scheme to get that which is not ours. We are called by God to be satisfied with what we have. To do this means that we fear and love God above all else. But herein lies the problem! We don’t! God says that we should fear, love, and trust in Him above ALL THINGS. Yet our hearts and desires are fixed on things, these have become our gods, we base our lives and hopes and happiness on acquiring things, all at the expense of our relationship with God.
God is not fooled. He knows your heart AND your desires. He sees the insatiable lust that you have for the best of everything, the desire to have things you do not need. No wonder we aren’t content! Our god has become that which we own. Paul, in our text for tonight, calls us to repent, to turn from our love of stuff and the things of this world, and look to the One who loves us so much that He gave Himself for the world.
Paul learned to be content because He understood that everything he needed came from God. It isn’t that Paul didn’t appreciate the things of the world or the material gifts of others; it is that Paul didn’t trust in material things to grant him security and happiness. Nor is it the case that Paul was thankless for what he had. No, on the contrary, Paul saw that everything he had was a gift of God, and that as God’s child He was called to worship the Gift giver instead of the gifts.
Listen to what Paul says, I learned the secret of contentment. Paul learned it. Not many people learn the secret of contentment, but Paul did and he shares it with you tonight. God truly taught Paul and Paul was receptive of God’s teaching. He learned the secret of contentment from God. Paul says that he was content: "In every respect and on all occasions." What a blessing this is and it is something that we in the USA have to learn from Paul. Paul teaches here by example.
Paul knew what it was like to have too little, to have not enough, and even to have abundance. He was content because he didn’t trust in what he had, he trusted instead in Christ. Paul knew that the God of all creation loved His fallen creatures to the extent that He would spare no expense but give Christ as the Redeemer and Savior of all. For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, so that you have everything you need: forgiveness of sins, eternal life, joy, the peace that surpasses all understanding, you have everything because you have Christ!
You have Christ because God gave you Jesus in your Baptism. You have Christ because God speaks in His Word. You have Christ in the Lord’s Supper. You have Christ for you have been baptized in His name and now you belong to Him. The God of all creation, who owns everything, has given to you Himself in Jesus Christ. And knowing that God has done this for you, He will also “supply every need of yours according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.” (Phil. 4:19).
That is why Paul is content. That is why he is able to say: Rejoice in the Lord always, again I say rejoice! For Paul has Christ, and for Paul, and for each of us, to live is Christ, to die is gain. Paul knew, and we need to learn and believe this: that when you have Jesus, and more important, when Jesus has you, you have everything that you need.
And you have Jesus and Jesus has you! He has purchased you with a price, not with silver or gold, but with His holy precious blood and innocent suffering and death SO THAT you are His own. You belong to Christ. And in Christ, you have everything you need.
So what is the secret of contentment? It isn’t something you can find at Jungle Jims. You can’t get it with a coupon, and it isn’t based on the stuff you have accumulated in your garage or basement. The secret of contentment is not a possession, but it is because God possesses you in Christ. In Baptism God has called you by name, you belong to Him. And in Him we know that nothing will ever separate us from God’s love in Christ. God showers us with His blessings each and everyday, and He tells us to trust in Him for “God will supply every need of yours according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus. “ And so we, repenting of our sins, look to Christ for forgiveness and for all things. Only in Christ will we be and will we continue to be: content.
In Jesus’ name
Amen