Ron Dunn Podcast - Learning The Secret Of Contentment

Episode Date: July 10, 2019

From the series "That I May Know Him"

Oh, Brother David, do you feel free to get up any time you need to? We'll certainly understand. Well, it's been a wonderful week. I've been blessed by the music. Thank you, Jet. Has he already left? Oh, there he is over there. I worked with a music man one time. When he got through with the music, he left and he came back in when it was time for the invitation.

Anyway, so I'm glad that you're here because you really do need the preaching. But it's been a great week, and praise the Lord for these couples that have come down, and I trust they have been blessed and refreshed and encouraged in the Lord. And as I said the other night, I think it's one of the great ministries of our church,

and I wish I could convince other pastors to do the same thing. I think it would be a wonderful thing. There are a number of churches who have far more resources than we have to do this. And I think it would just be a blessing. And as I said the other night, our church is always blessed more or as much as those that we bring in. And I want to thank you for letting me come, taking a chance on me, seeing whether or not I could stand up and talk. And so we thought,

Kay and I thought this would be a good test if I could be here in my home church, people that knew me and knew all that we'd gone through. And I wouldn't have to do any traveling. And if I could make it this week, then that would be kind of a sign that I'm ready to hit the road again. And so thank you for taking a chance on me, David. And I started calling about 5 o'clock and telling him that I just couldn't make it and that he was going to have to preach. But I love him too much to do that. He's been nice to me this week,

and I've been nice to him. And thank you, dear people, again for all your prayers and support and help. It's meant so much to us. And thank God for this week and His presence in our midst. Now, I want you to open your Bibles tonight again to the letter to the Philippians, chapter 4. And I want to read verses 10 through 13. Philippians chapter 4, verses 10 through 13.

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. Now he's referring to the gift that they sent to Paul by Epaphroditus. 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. Now, Americans especially are intoxicated by the word secret. We just die if we didn't have a secret or two or hear a secret or two. And our ears really perk up when somebody says, I have a secret that I want to share with you. Of course, you know what a secret is. It's something you tell everybody one person at a time. But the advertising world and the media world and others, they capitalize on this.

You know all the tabloids at grocery store checkout. You know, they're always advertising or proclaiming some secret, the secret diet of the stars or a secret pill that will cure cancer or this or that. Of course, I never would buy one of those things, you understand, but I do read pretty quickly while I'm at the checkout line. And I've heard sermons on the secret of power and the secret of prayer and the secret of building a great church and the secret of this and the secret of that. And it's been overused and abused, and so I never used the word secret in the titles of my sermon, except tonight, because Paul used it.

He said, I have learned the secret. He said, I have learned to be content whatever my circumstances. So I want to speak to you tonight on this subject, the secret of contentment. Contentment is a very interesting word. It means to be satisfied. It means to be at peace with yourself. I think one of the characteristic marks of our day is the discontent of people.

Of course, that goes along with covetousness. The truth of the matter is, everybody here tonight is either covetous or content. Now, when I use the word covetous, and the Bible uses the word, it doesn't simply apply to money. Most of the time, that's how we apply it. But being covetous means simply that you are not satisfied with what you have, and you're trying your best to get more. And most people that I know and I come in contact with are discontented with their lot in life, discontented with something

maybe in their home or in their job. Discontent in a home can cause strife and anger and hostility and bring about separation and divorce. Discontent in a person's life can create such strife within and such tension and disharmony within that it can almost give you ulcers. Discontent is a curse upon man. Adam lost paradise because he was discontented with what he had. God had given him everything.

He and Eve had everything there was to have. Well, there was one tree that they couldn't eat up, but they didn't need to. But they weren't content with what God had given them. And so because of discontent, Adam and Eve lost paradise and plunged the human race into sin. The angels that sinned fell from their first estate because they were discontented, not satisfied. Lucifer fell because he was discontented. I have to say honestly that about half the churches I go to about half the pastors are discontented

and miserable and looking for something else and you can tell it in the way they talk and in the way they comport themselves and in the conversations that we share I'm not joking when I say comport themselves and in the conversations that we share. I'm not joking when I say that I have arrived on the scene and the first thing the pastor's done is given me a resume of himself

asking me to pass it on. Now that's a discontented man. And therefore, he is not doing his best for the Lord or for the church. And so the great pearl is contentment. I believe every person, whether they call it that or not, long and yearn for contentment. Well, Paul is a man who found that. He said, I have learned to be content whatever my circumstances. Three simple things I want to share with you tonight.

First of all, there really is a secret of contentment. This isn't a tabloid cover. There really is a secret of contentment. This isn't a tabloid cover. There really is a secret of contentment. And Paul found it. He said, I have learned to be content whatever my circumstances. Now that word content is a very picturesque word. It literally means to be self-sufficient or self-contained, needing no outside assistance. I want you to notice how he states it. In verse 10, he's saying, 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. Man, I'm rejoicing in the Lord for the gift that Epaphroditus brought from you. And then he immediately says,

Not that I speak from want. In other words, he doesn't want any misunderstanding. He is rejoicing that these Philippians have given him a gift. But he wants them to know that the joy comes from his contentment, not from the gift. He wants them to know that I'm not speaking in respect of what... Don't misunderstand me when I say I rejoice at your gift. Don't misunderstand me that I was worried. And that I was concerned.

And that I was going to the mailbox three times a day to see if the check was in the mail. He said, not that I speak in respect of want. Why? For I have learned, whatever my state, whatever my circumstances, to be self-contained, self-sufficient, needing no outside assistance. In the ancient world, that word was used for cities who were self-contained. In other words, they had their own water supply and their own food supply. Now, in the ancient days when an army went at war against a city,

they would surround that city to cut off every supply route, and they would wait and just starve them out. But if that city was self-contained, if that was a contented city that had its own food supply and its own water supply, then you see they couldn't be starved out. They were independent of outside circumstances.

And that's what Paul means here. He says, I have learned that I am self-contained, that I have within me everything I need to make life livable, and I am not dependent upon outside circumstances. Whatever the circumstances are, whatever the situation is, it doesn't affect me one way or another. I maintain my equilibrium through any kind of circumstance. Now, wouldn't that be a good thing for all of us to be able to say?

In good times and bad times, do we differ? Are we as quick to praise the Lord in bad times as we are in good times? I remember one night sitting on the front view waiting to preach and the service to start, and there were two women behind me talking, and I couldn't help but, you know, hear what they were saying. Evidently, one of the mother's boys had been in a terrible car wreck, and another boy in that car had been killed. And this one woman said to the mother,

she said, oh, I'm so glad your boy is all right. And she said, yes, God is so good. Well, he is. But I couldn't help wondering what that other mother was saying at the same time. Do you reckon the mother of that dead boy was saying, God is so good? And I couldn't help wondering if that mother's son had been the one who had been killed, if she would have been saying, God is so good. You see, there is something about maintaining your equilibrium no matter what the circumstance, that you are the same in bad times

and good times. This is what Paul is saying. He's saying the outward circumstances have no effect upon me. I mean, the world can say to me, Paul, if you don't bow down and worship us and go our way, we're going to take away all your possessions. Paul said, oh, no, no, no, you can't do that because I'm self-contained. I have within me everything I need to make my life worth living. And so he can say no to the world, and he can say no to those temptations. Why?

Because everything I need is within me. I am self-contained. What a tremendous thing to be that way. To not be dependent upon favorable circumstances and to be independent of unfavorable circumstances. Maintaining that equilibrium. And Paul had learned that secret. He said, I have learned to be content. And that's what contentment means. It means finding within yourself everything you need to make life worth living, not depending upon circumstances. If your joy,

now I say this carefully and I've thought a lot about it, but friend, if your joy depends upon how your kids are doing, you've not learned to be content. I tell you, it's hard. It's hard for you to have joy when your teenage son has run off or when there's rebellion.

And you let that circumstance rule your life. You let that circumstance dominate your every thought. And you can't be happy and you can't experience joy unless everything is perfect in your life. When if your joy depends upon the conditions of your job, then you've not learned to be content. As a pastor, if my joy depends upon what my church is doing and how it's doing, I have not yet learned to be content. Contentment is discovering the sufficiency within yourself so that you have all that you need within yourself.

Well, that's just the first thing. The second thing is, not only is there really a secret of contentment, but it is a secret that must be learned. I was afraid you were going to say that. Notice Paul didn't say, I have heard the secret, or somebody told me the secret.

He said, I have learned the secret. Now, he uses two words here, one in verse 11 and one in verse 12, and they're different words. In verse 11, he says, I have learned to be content. And the word learned there is the ordinary word for learn. But when he comes to verse 12, he says, I have learned the secret. And he uses a different word there,

an unusual word that was used by the mystery religions of that day. And it meant to be initiated into some great mystery. In other words, if you were a member of this certain religion, and this kind of reminds me of, what is this organization that they wear the hats? The Masons, yeah. You know, they have secrets. And if you're a Mason, you cannot divulge the secrets of Masonry to anybody else. But when you join the masons, there are certain degrees.

And you learn, and you learn, and you learn. And as you move up the ladder, you are initiated into certain secrets. That's the word that Paul is using. And it always implied a long difficult process. You know, you don't get contentment by saying, Lord

give me contentment. And then God's just zapping you with it. I wish it were that way. But that's not it. It is a secret that must be learned. And it's a slow and difficult process. You don't learn it overnight

and you can't cram for the final exam. Now what school did he go to? Let's look at the curriculum of this school that Paul went to. Notice in verse 12, he says, I know how to get along with humble means and I also know how to live in prosperity. In any and every circumstance, I've learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need. Now notice the opposites, the extremes.

Paul says, there have been times when I've been abased, when I've had nothing. And there have been times when I've had everything, when I've lived in abundance. There have been times when I've been hungry. There have been times when I've been so stuffed I would think I'd never eat another bite of food in my life. He said, I've gone to the extremes. And here's what he learned. He learned that having nothing didn't diminish him. And having everything did not enhance him. You could take away everything from Paul,

but you didn't take away from him. You could give everything to Paul, but you didn't take away from him. You could give everything to Paul, but you didn't add a single thing to him. You understand what he's saying? I don't think that you and I can learn to be content until we have gone through the extremes of life. All of us have had those good times. All of us have had those good times.

All of us have had those prosperous times. And all of us have had those hip-bottom times. The dry times. The hard times. We've gone to the extremes in our life. We've known joy and we've known heartache. We've laughed and we have cried. We've rejoiced in this and we have been despicable of this. We've gone to extremes. And it's in the extremities

of life, you see, that God is teaching us. Listen, you and I need to understand that for the believer, nothing is incidental and nothing is accidental. That God has a purpose for everything that he's doing in your life. And right now you may be going through a hard time. Why am I doing this? Well, God's trying to teach you something. God's trying to teach you something. Right now you may be going through a prosperous time, a boom period in your life. God's trying to teach you something. Right now you may be going through a prosperous time,

a boom period in your life. God's trying to teach you something. In other words, He's trying to say to us that if we are self-contained, if we are content, that having everything doesn't add anything to us. And losing everything doesn't take anything away from us. Now, of course, this is exactly opposite of how the world believes. The world believes the more you have, the more you are. They believe that having is being.

That what you have constitutes who you are. And, you know, it's hard to get away from this. You judge a person by the car that he drives. You judge a person by the house they live in. You judge a person by which side of the tracks they live on? When I was a teenager, I worked in a men's clothing store, and I learned and I was told by those who had been there for 40 years, told me that the last thing a man takes care of in his dress is his shoes.

I mean, he may go out and buy an expensive suit, silk shirt and a silk tie, and wear old scuffed brown shoes. And so I fell into the habit of every time I met somebody, I looked at their shoes. And half the time I didn't get their name because I was busy looking at their... Brother Allen, yours could use a little...

Let me give you a tip on how to make those look better. But I found myself judging a man by his shoes. And if they were, he was wearing brown shoes with a black suit or a blue suit and they were scuffed up and everything and especially if he was wearing white socks, I knew that that man really didn't know how to dress.

You know, we judge people by simple things, don't we? We judge them by what they have and what they do not have. And when you go to apply for a job, you don't go in blue jean cutoffs and a tank top, do you? I mean, things have changed so much that you may do it. I don't know. But when you go to apply for a job, you try to look as prosperous as

you can. You see, because they're going to judge you by how well dressed you are. And that's the way the world thinks. And the problem is the church has fallen into that and we think the same thing. I go to churches and pastor will brag on how many millionaires he has in his church. The man, we got five millionaires in our church. Or they'll say we have, and I was in one church, we have 12 doctors in our church. I don't know how many bricklayers he had. He didn't seem to mention that. I don't know how many bag ladies he had in his church. That would not enhance him in any way.

That would not enhance his church in any way. And so we have adopted the way of the world. It is a secret that must be learned and you learn it through the extremities of life. You see, the world way to contentment is increasing your possessions God's way of contentment is

decreasing your desires you see that's contentment now thirdly somebody mentioned that I preached 50 minutes last night and I really am not going to do that tonight.

This is going to be quick. There is a secret of contentment. It's a secret that must be learned. And you know what that secret is? That secret is Christ. You know, I love Paul because he always comes back to Jesus, doesn't he? He was a Christ-focused man. Notice verse 13.

He says, I can do all things through him who strengthens me. Now, I think at times we have perhaps misunderstood that and taken it out of context. And we've used that sometimes to mean, man, I can do anything. I mean, I can do any job. I can do anything. I can move mountains.

I can cause miracles to come to pass. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. And if you take it out of its context and use it like that, then you're going to be sorely disappointed. What Paul is talking about in these extremities of life, he says, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Now, it's interesting that I can do. The word do is a very interesting word.

It means to be in full health or to be vigorous. I like Philip's translation the best of all here. He says, I am ready for anything through Christ who pours his strength in me. I like that. I think that's the best translation. Paul says, bring it on. I'm ready for anything that the world throws at me. I'm ready for anything that the world throws at me.

I'm ready for anything that the devil throws at me. Why? Because Christ is constantly infusing me with his power, with his strength. And so through Christ, I'm ready for anything. Christ is the secret. You may say, oh, I'm sort of disappointed. I was hoping there'd be some formula you were going to give us, some 12-step program you were going to give us. But you see, it's not a formula.

And we have to keep coming back to this again and again in the Christian life. It's not a formula. It is a person. And that person is Jesus Christ. And Paul says, The Christ who dwells within me is constantly, and that's the idea of the word, is continuously and constantly pouring strength into me.

Like a dynamo. And so I'm ready for anything. So I thank you for your gift. But the truth of the matter is, I'd have been all right without it. I appreciate it but you see I've learned to be self contained

requiring no outside assistance and the secret of this is because Christ who lives in me by his strength makes me ready for anything.

Dr. George Duncan, a great British preacher who's now in heaven, told me a story. And I asked him when it was over, I said, is that the truth or is that just a preacher's story?

He said, no, that's the truth. I knew this man personally. He told of an old man who had one son. And that son was a pilot and was killed in the Second World War. Well, eventually this old man, wealthy old man, died. He had no heirs. And so his estate was to be auctioned off. And a part of this man's wealthy estate was a fabulous art collection. And so one of the auction houses in London took upon the task of auctioning off these paintings, many of them by masters. And so on the day of the auction, people had gathered there from all over the United Kingdom because they wanted a chance to buy in to this great art collection. So the auctioneer came up

and there was an easel there and he put a portrait on that easel. It was a portrait of somebody they didn't know, painted by someone they didn't know. Actually, it was a portrait of the old man's son. And the buyers there thought, well, that's valueless because nobody knows the artist who painted it and so it's of no worth. And so no one would bid on it. But there happened to be in that audience

one of the old man's lifetime servants. And he had known that son from the time he was born till the time he died. And he thought to himself, you know, it would be nice to have that portrait. And nobody else is bidding. I can probably get it cheap. And so he bid. Now the auctioneer had said, the will stated, that before any of the other pieces of art could be sold,

this one had to be sold first. And so it stood kind of as a barrier because you couldn't auction off the other great masterpieces until this simple portrait was sold. And so the old man, the old servant, bid on it and he got it. And everybody was relieved, now we can get on to the good stuff. And then the auctioneer got up and said, the auction is over. And everyone was stunned. They didn't understand what was going on. And the auctioneer said,

the will further stipulates that whoever gets the picture of the son gets the whole lot. I asked him, is that true? He said, yes. I know the man. And he said, remember, son, whoever gets Jesus gets the whole lot. The secret of living a contented life

is Christ as he is constantly infusing us with history. The Ron Dunn Podcast is available only for personal edification not to be duplicated uploaded to the web

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