The Church of Eleven22 - Wk 9: Secret to Contentment

Episode Date: April 2, 2023

You want PEACE? You want true CONTENTMENT regardless of the circumstances? You want a JOY that you can’t lose? Then hear and heed the invitation of Jesus:  28 Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” – Jesus (Matthew 11:28-30)

Amen and amen. Have it doing, church. Doing good. I hope you're excited. I haven't been here on Sunday morning like a month, so I'm pretty punked. This thing can be about three hours long. You've got to get into it.

Sit up, put a smile on your face, lean in. It's going to be. It's going to be. We're finishing up our series in the book of Philippians. As you're turning there, I just got one little kind of announcement sort of thing

to make. As you know, with a 10-10 life, we have partnered with our first responders that we are fighting for those who fight for a living. and especially with the things going on that went on Monday in Nashville, man. I was working on the sermon and sat down and saw the body cam footage of the police officers that rushed in. And man, what a mix of emotions, right?

Like your heart is breaking for those children and those parents. I mean, I think it's just another day at school and those teachers. And then simultaneously there's some like angst against just the evil in the world that would do something like that. And then you see the unbelievable bravery. of the police officers, the men and women, that like, especially that one dude, whoever, what I was watching was just going, go, go, go. And there's gunfire, and he's running to it

and not away. And so, I know we've got great first responders all over the place. Our church is full of them, and we say thank you. We say thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, okay? And so, no doubt, man. And so, as a special thank you, all the campus pastors let you know.

I came out with the book two weeks ago. if you are a first responder at any of our locations, then after the service, you can just go to the table and the church would like to give you a gift, just give you anything that's possible just to say thank you to you. So go and pick one of those up, okay? So you just tell them.

And now, if you lie about it, you're going straight to hell. I just need you to know that. If you're like, no, seriously, I am. In handcuffs, you're probably going to hell that way, all right? So just know that. And you have to be the responder, okay? If you're like, well, I'm getting this from a husband. and bring him a dude to church, and I'll give him a book.

You understand what I'm saying? So. All right. Philippians, the ninth week, chapter four, we're going to wrap this whole thing up. And I want you to know something. I have a secret. Yeah, it's kind of a big deal.

It's a really big deal. It's the kind of secret, and you've wanted to know this secret for your entire life. And everybody you know has wanted to know the contents of this secret for their entire life. In fact, the entire world, regardless of what you believe, about Jesus and God and the Bible, and all of that, every single person on this planet wants to know the content of this secret, because if you know and apply this secret, it will change everything.

I mean, it will change everything. In fact, as I was preparing for this sermon, I had this sense that the Lord was going to do really, really something different in your life. There's going to be some people. You didn't even know it, man. You got here by accident. Somebody duped you into it, okay? They tricked you to be here. Invited you to breakfast through a hot pocket in your lap, and here you are, okay.

It could be you. Everything could be changed. Because the right information at just the right time can change everything. You know that? The right information at just the right time can change everything. Two weeks ago, my family and I, we were on a family trip to Hawaii. We've never been to Hawaii. It was awesome.

And if you've been around, you've heard me say this before, we have two type of travel in my family. We have trips and we have vacations. If the kids come, it's a trip. And if it's just me and mama, it's a vacation. For you church folk, let me put it in church language. When we take the kids on a family trip, it's very Presbyterian. It's orderly, all the elect come, there's an agenda, there's an itinerary, we do all the things that you're supposed to do in order.

And when it's a vacation, just me and mama, it's very charismatic. There's a lot of, like, speaking in time. and laying on the hands, you know what I'm saying? So anyway, this was a trip. This was a trip. She loves it when I, don't you love it? Happy birthday. So this is a trip.

The kids were there. And one of the only things I really wanted to do, I mean, it was great, but we went to, we were staying in Oahu, and so we went and toured Pearl Harbor. And I'd seen a little bit, but, you know, I don't know, I don't know. I saw the Affleck movie. I don't think it was a documentary. So I'm leaning in, learning some things, et cetera. And part of what, I think I'd heard this before, but I didn't really know

that leading up to the attack on the United States, there were at least three times where there were clues. Our enemy had a secret that we didn't know about, but there were at least three clues. Like at 3 o'clock in the morning, there was a guy on a boat, and he saw a periscope up out of the water heading towards the opening of Pearl Harbor,

the bay at Pearl Harbor. And the guy communicated it, and they looked for a minute, but they didn't see anything, so they just kind of ignored it. They thought, eh, it's just, I mean, it's three o'clock in the morning, bro. you maybe just made it up in your head.

They're like, all right. And then about an hour or two hours before the attack, they actually see a submarine that it almost surfaced. And so a boat attacked it. They dropped detonators on it, blew it up. And again, they made the reports, and it went up the chain of command, but they thought it was an isolated incident

because they didn't know about the periscope thing. So they just thought, well, good job on us. We got it. And then about 30 minutes before the attack, there were two brand new sailors who had just gotten to Oahu, and they were using a brand new technology called radar. And the old guys didn't think that it was going to work. And they actually spotted airplanes coming in over the North Shore.

183 Japanese airplanes wore planes that were going to drop bombs. And instead of taking it seriously, they just didn't know, and so they thought it was probably a U.S. plane, a B-17 that was coming in. And so they just, they had the information, but they didn't pay attention to it. And because they ignored the information, it had devastating consequences to the tune of 2,403 dead Americans, including 900 sailors who were still entombed in the USS Arizona. You see, the right information at the right time can change everything. The contents of this secret that I have for you, trust me, man.

If you just come and sit to church and let it go one. in one ear and out the other, the consequences of that could be devastating. But if you'll lean in and pay a little bit of attention, if you will not only hear the contents of this secret, but apply it, it could change everything. It's what Paul is talking about in the book of Philippians. It's how he's going to close the book of Philippians. Philippians actually starts back in Acts chapter 16. Paul is on his missionary tour, his second missionary tour.

He's in Macedonia. He has a dream. He sees an angel. He'll say, come over to Philippa, gets up the next day, takes some of his boys with him, they go to Philippi. He runs into three people in this order. He runs into this lady named Lydia. She's a boss lady, man.

She's a baller. She's a CEO. She sells purple goods. She got bank, lives in a mansion. She's awesome. He leads her to Christ. And then he cast a demon out of this slave girl that was being trafficked by some dudes. And then the third, and saves her.

She comes to Christ. And then the third person that some people didn't like that, so they locked him up, put him in jail. and so he led the jailer to Christ, which is unbelievable because as a good Orthodox Jew like Paul was, especially in his early years, he would have woken up every day and prayed this prayer. God, thank you that I'm not a woman, I'm not a slave, and I'm not a Gentile. And of all the people, God chooses it to save in Philippi,

he slaves a woman, he saves a slave, and he saves a Gentile. Why? Because this church at Philippi was a movement for all people. And then years later, about 10 years after the church kicks off, He writes them a letter. It's this big in my Bible. I use the ELP, though, extra large print. Some of you over there, the whole letter's on one page.

God bless you, all right? And Paul, who was formerly known as Saul, was known for two things, law and terror, terror and law. And then on the road to Damascus, Jesus saves him, blinds him. He begins to disciple him. And by the time Paul writes this letter, who used to be known for law and terror, now what he's doing is he's leading with grace and peace.

And then he lets the Church of Philippi know that he loves them and that he's proud of them. And they're like family to him. And he says, and it is right for me to feel this way about you because I have all y'all in my heart. That's what he says. Then he goes on to exhort them to encourage them. And may you live a life worthy of the gospel of Jesus Christ. That's chapter one. And they're thinking, how, Paul?

How do we live a life worthy of the gospel of Jesus? and he says, here's how, here's how you've got to be humble, you've got to consider others as more important than yourselves, and just no matter what you do, you've got to have the mind of Christ, the attitude of Christ, and whatever you do, man, don't complain or argue. Because if you can do everything without complaining or arguing, you will shine like a star and a crooked and a parade generation. And he says, check out my boys, Timothy and Epaphardite's. They're very good examples of everything that I've just been telling you here in the second

chapter. And then he gets through the third chapter and he's like, but let me give you a warning. in your effort to live a life worthy of the gospel of Jesus Christ, let me just remind you that you are not made righteous by your works. You are not reconciled to God by your religious resume. Because if it was your religious resume that would be impressive, then I would be the most oppressive among us. Because I've done everything right according to the law every day of my life.

But I consider all of that, all of my accomplishments, the ones I inherited and the ones I work for, I consider them all rubbish is the way the New Testament English version translates that word. The word doesn't mean rubbish, though. Okay? The Greek word is scubilant. It's a slang term for animal dung.

Now, listen, man, we're from Jacksonville and Jessup and surrounding counties. Ain't nobody in here, be like, oh, no, I've stepped in rubbish. Nah, man. No, it's a slang term for animal dung. That's bull scubiland. That's what that is, okay? So he's saying, in your effort, okay,

to walk in a manner worthy of the gospel of Jesus Christ, it's not your effort, it's not your work to save you, it's the finished work of cross. And anything other than that, I consider bull scubilon as compared to knowing Christ. And he says, it's only by faith that we're made righteous. We're into chapter three here, and he goes, so imitate me as I follow after Christ.

but just so you know, I have not arrived. I have not yet gained what I am leaning into. He said, I may not be where I want to be, but I ain't where I used to be, praise God. And so if you want a perfect example of somebody that when they fall, they fall on the grace of Jesus, then you can follow me. And if you're following me, I'm following after Jesus.

And so I press hold. I press on to take hold of the price that Christ has for me. But listen, church, as you press on, may you press into the peace that God offers you. And they essentially say, how we do that? He goes, here's how you do it, okay? First of all, you've got to resolve your conflicts. Got to get along.

Next thing is you've got to release the burden. Be anxious for nothing, but by prayer and supplication with Thanksgiving, make your request known to God. And the peace of God that transcends understanding will guard your heart and your mind in Christ Jesus. And you've got to rewire your mind. You got to quit setting your mind all the things of this earth. to whatsoever things are pure and holy and just and right.

You've got to think about these kind of things. So that's Philippians in about three minutes. And that leads us to the way he closes his letter. See, when I teach through books of the Bible, I want you to be able to palm it, not just receive each sermon, but I want you to get an idea of what Paul is doing here. As that leads us to chapter 4, verse 10.

He says this, I rejoiced in the Lord greatly. This is the 20th time now he rejoices. or says joy. And he's writing it from prison because he's not rejoicing in his circumstances. 20 times he either says joy or rejoice. Joy is the noun and rejoiced is what you do with it. It's the verb.

And he says, I rejoice in the Lord greatly that now at length you have revived your concern with me. You were indeed concerned for me. That word concern is the same word that he used in chapter one when he said, it's right for you to feel this way about me and me about you. You see, when you're in a good Jesus-loving, healthy church, then it should just be defined by love, man.

You're not a pawn in some kind of organization. No, no, no, no. Paul says there is this deep and abiding love that people have for one another. And so he says, you have revived your concern for me. You were indeed concerned for me, but you had no opportunity. Here's what he's saying.

He's saying, early on, you supported the ministry. Thank you, thank you, thank you. but for a while you didn't have an opportunity, but now you have another opportunity to not just support the ministry, but support me because Paul was in Roman prison, and they didn't have three squares in a workout room in Roman prison. If you didn't have a family or friends to bring you food,

you would starve to death, and now what Paul has done is sent Apaprodite and the Philippian Church have given him a gift. Here's what he's saying, thank you not just for the feelings that you have for me, but the action that accompanied the feelings. You see, because feelings without action is not love. It's not.

Intentions are useless. But what do you do about them? Verse 11, he says, not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound in any and every circumstance. Here it is. I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance. and need. I memorized this in the NIV 84, and it said this, I have learned the secret of being

content in any and every situation. That's the secret. There's a secret. He didn't tell us what it is yet, but he says there is a secret that can lead you to a place where you could be content no matter the circumstance. Well, there's a lot to it. First of all, one is you've got to learn it. You got to learn it. Why? Because you're not born with it. Have you ever met a content baby? For a minute, depending on the circumstances, right? I mean, here's the deal, man. If your baby is crying, then they're either hungry, they're tired, or they have a mess for you to clean up.

That's it. That's it. And what happens is they're crying out for something, and when you meet their circumstantial need for a time, then they'll be okay, right? Right. which by the way we got a ton of babies here at 1122 and I just want to say when you bring your babies into service I love it I love it I love it and if your baby cries a little bit it bothers me zero let me tell you who else doesn't get bothered all the parents the parents are like oh so cute God bless you all so glad I don't have one of those anymore gets better oh it gets better

bless you right that's what we do now if your baby goes into like full exorcism mode is you know needs an old priest and a young priest maybe scoot out and get them taken care of and then come on back in all right but that's the thing man they cry because they want something okay see you got to learn it you ever you ever had a child that was just totally content regardless of the situation have you ever come home and your third grade son look at you and be like father you've probably worked hard this week why don't you take some time off you don't need to play with me never ever ever ever okay no man You see, you've got to learn this. And as you begin to learn contentment regardless of the situation,

you are maturing in Christ. So not only do you have to learn it, but it's a secret. Like it's counterintuitive. Nobody's going to figure this out. No general revelation is going to show this to you. Someone has to share it with you. Because when you talk about a contentment that is beyond circumstantial, this is a learned secret.

And what's crazy is he says, I've learned the secret of being content in abundance and in want. And you think, what do you mean you've learned to be content in abundance? Because if I had plenty of stuff, oh, I know I would be content. Anybody ever met somebody that had plenty, but they weren't content? You know who they are? You and me every day. God's people have never done very well with blessing. All throughout the scripture, man, the moment.

we get enough. We tend to go rely on ourselves, forget God. It's the whole book of judges 13 times in a row. It's what it is. It's when we find ourselves in places of desperation that we cry out to him. Let me think about this, man. Can you remember when you had less and you thought if I could just move in that neighborhood, get it that house, just one more bedroom and a half bath. If I could get those prayer pants, maybe that car, it would do it for me. And it didn't do it for you, did it? He's saying, not only has he learned being content. and when it ain't going good, he's learned to be content when it is going good. He's like, listen, man, I bawled out at Lydia's house.

Lydia's got a mansion. Lydia's got a chef. Lydia's chef brings to me some gospel meat, some bacon-wrap fillet cooked medium rare, and I cut into that thing and eat it. It's like butter, man, and I say, bless the Lord, all my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name. I can live like that. And he's like, or I'm in jail, and I can live like that too,

because I'll leave the jailer to Christ. can you imagine can you imagine having that kind of contentment you see I made up a definition for contentment you should write it down it's good okay biblical contentment is the state of transcendent

peace that comes from your joy in the Lord and this is by grace let me say it again biblical contentment is the state of transcendent peace that comes from your joy in the Lord, and this is by grace. Now, this isn't good vibes and chill. This isn't laziness.

There's a whole bunch of things in this world that I'm not satisfied with, okay? As long as there's lost people, we've got work to do. As long as it is not safe for the baby to be in her mother's womb, we got work to do. As long as marriages are falling apart, we got work to do. As long as humans are being trafficked, we got work to do. As long as there are seniors that claim Christ as their Savior that are wasting some of the most productive years of their life, we got work to do. As long as there is one child in poverty around the world that needs to be rescued in Jesus' name, we got work to do. You see, Jesus says from the days of John the Baptist until the day the kingdom of heaven has been forcefully advancing and violent men take hold of it.

So this ain't just like sit around on your blessed assurance and don't do anything. No, no, no. That's not the kind of contentment he's talking about. He's talking about regardless of the circumstances that he knows the secret of this state of transcendent peace that comes from his joy in the Lord. And this is a gift of God by grace. Can you imagine that?

Can you imagine that kind of contentment? Can you imagine you get healed from cancer? Or the cancer comes back. And you say, I know the secret of being content. You get the bonus or you get let go. And either way you can breathe in and breathe out, and you know the secret of being content in any and every situation.

That is a transcendent peace, is it not? A piece that surpasses understanding. You see, there's a guy a couple hundred years ago named Horatio Spafford, rich guy lived in Chicago. He was supporting Dwight L. Moody. He was an evangelist in England, and he was going to go spend a couple months with him and support his traveling evangelistic ministry.

And so he puts his family on a boat, sends him over. He was supposed to go because of the Chicago fire. He had to run back to Chicago and take care of a bunch of stuff. And on the way, his family was on this boat, and they were teaboned by another boat in the Atlantic Ocean. His wife survived. When she gets over to England, she sends word back to him, and it says, survived alone. In a moment, he lost all of his children.

I mean, it's the greatest fear of every parent, right? For some of you, you know what it is like. And the rest of us go, I cannot imagine. So he gets on a boat. He's heading over to meet up with his wife. In the middle of the night, the captain of the ship, wait. him up, says, Mr. Spafford, this is probably about the area where the shipwreck happened, and this is where your children lost their life. And he gets up, and on that ship, he writes

these words. It's an old hymn. You've probably heard it before. He writes these words, when peace like a river, attendeth my way, when sorrow like sea billows roll, whatever my lot thou has taught me to say, it is well, it is well with my soul. Can you imagine? Can you imagine having that kind of contentment that no matter what you could say, it is well with my soul?

That's what Christ wants for you. He wants that for you. Now, we live in a world, that tries to sell it all the time. You realize this. This is what the world is trying to sell us. Trying to sell us peace. And he can't. It won't work. That's why every couple years, whatever the product that was going to change us all is now new and improved because we've got to keep improving it because it didn't do what they said it was going to do. Every time I think about this, I think about, remember when McConaughey was selling Lincoln's? Remember that? He's riding around

at night going, all right, all right. This is a good opportunity for you to buy Lincoln. Right? And people do, man. They'll be like, man, if I buy a Lincoln, I'll be as calm and chill and coolest, content, it's McConaughey. No, you won't. No, you won't. The best that a Lincoln can do for you, if you invest money in a Lincoln, the best thing that's going to change in your life, you can get a job at Uber.

That's it, man. That's it. But we do it. That's why we call this the cul-de-sac of stupidity. When we were looking for hope and satisfaction in stuff, it's not because stuff is stupid. It's because you're stupid. Me too. I buy a bunch of stupid stuff too

thinking it's going to give me a biblical contentment but it's not that. So, all right, so what is the secret? So he's teed this thing all up, all right? I've learned the secret of being content. All right, Paul, well, what is it? You can't just say it. What is it? What is it? And the next verse, he gives it to us. And one of the most well-known, misused, taken out of context

verses in all the Bible. In fact, before you read it, I want you to see it. I have a picture of this verse. Here it is. The secret of being content. And every situation is Philippians 413. Now, let me tell you, does it have anything to do with winning championships? It's not what that means, man. It's not. When I was in high school, I wanted to dunk. I was going to dunk, okay? And I couldn't. So then I was like, ooh, I got it, I got it, and I pulled this out. Boom, I can do anything. I can. I can do all things through him who strengthens me. And then I went up to dunk, and I didn't hit the rim. I went through the net. Yeah.

So apparently that's not what it means. So why did I do the eye black with Timmy? Because he actually means it. I've disciples that dude for about eight years now. I've just spent all last weekend with him. And he would be the first one to tell you I can win the Heisman through Christ who gives me strength and I can get cut from the NFL through Christ who gives me strength.

And whatever my lot, thou has taught me to say it is well with my soul. And I've never met a person on the planet that's leveraged their platform for the sake of Christ anymore than that brother, man. Yeah, that's the secret. The secret is, I ain't got this. I need you to do for me what I can't do for me. It's not up to me. That I can do all things. The all things here are abundance or want. The all things are full or hungry, no matter what you throw at me, world, I can do anything you throw at me with a contentment through Christ.

because my strength isn't in me. He strengthens me. What's crazy is that, is that the apostle Paul is doing a little philosophical jiu-jitsu right here. That's what he's doing, man. The word content, it's translated in Greek. It means self-reliant. The Greek word is auto-archase. Self-reliant. Now, you pretty much go, whoa, whoa, whoa, why would you use that word, Paul? Isn't the whole message of the New Testament that you're not self-reliant? You've got to be Christ-reliant because you can't do it on your own? Well, what was going on in the first century is there was a group of people called Stoics. And what Stoics would do is they'd like sit in a little room,

stare at their belly button, and hum until they felt like they could find all their strength from inside that their contentment was found inside of them. And the Apostle, Paul is like, oh, I got your contentment, and it ain't in your belly button or you humming. Your contentment can only be found in Christ. You want to be self-reliant, then you rely on Christ, and he'll do some stuff in you through his strength

that you could never do on your own. That's what he's saying. That Christ is your contempt. And that's what he wants for you. Now here's the thing, though. We should know this verse. We have an enemy. He's a thief, and he wants to steal, kill, and destroy.

It's the only thing he wants to do. And one of the things that he wants to do is steal this contentment. Amen. And so you have enemies of contentment. Like comparison and contentment cannot coexist. Control and contentment cannot coexist. Coveting and contentment cannot coexist. list. So I made a list. I normally don't make list, but normally I have four days to preach.

I got time for list. This day, I had like 21 days to get ready for this sermon. I got a list. Ten things that will rob you of contentment. Ten enemies of contentment. It's not an exhaustive list. They're not in order of priority. But here are ten things that will rob you of this transcendent peace in the joy of the Lord that he has for you. Enemies of contentment. Number one. you will never experience the peace of God until you have peace with God. That's it, man. You will never experience the peace of God that transcends understanding until you are at peace with God that comes through a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.

If you don't know Jesus, the best you can hope for is circumstantial happiness. And happiness is here one minute and it's gone the next, right? At the beach, everything's lovely. and then all of our friends from Ohio feeding the sigils like idiots and there goes happy, go on. Right? If you're Ohio State, you're driving,

driving, driving, everybody's happy. Miss the field goal, you're only happy. Now we're happy. That's how it goes. The best you can hope for, man. But if you want the peace of God, you've got to make peace with God and Jesus has already made the way.

All you've got to do is say yes to him. That's number one. Number two, enemy of contentment is the lack of gospel confidence. is a lack of gospel confidence. If you think what Jesus did on the cross wasn't enough, then you will forever lack contentment because you will think you have to add to his work

by keeping up and being good enough. Right? If I were to ask you, are you enough to go to heaven? Your answer every time is there's no way in the world. Even though my best day, my best actions are like filthy rags before God. You see, I mean, I don't, all right, I turned 50 this year. I got to save when I was like 16. And if you're a dude, when you turn 50, you get weird, man.

You get all in your mind. You start asking all these, like, questions about your life and all this kind of stuff. Okay, if you would have asked me when I was 16 years old, what my walk with Jesus would be like when I'm 50. You know what I would think? I would be crushing it. I would have no struggles? What a 50-year-old people struggle with? When you're 16, you think that's 150 anyway, so you don't know.

I would think. I'd be like, all right, at that point in my life, I think Jesus is going to wake me up every morning. Be like, hey, buddy, time to get up. I've turned your Bible to the area you need to read in your quiet time, and I would levitate on my bed while I did my quiet time. That's what I thought my life would be like at this point in my walk with Jesus. Last week, Pastor Bruce said,

you ever notice how everybody checks off the sanctification boxes in different orders? It's hard for me to understand at 50 years old. I've been real serious about this Jesus thing for a long time. I've been a professional Christian for 30 years. And yet some of the same very things I struggled with like crazy when I was 16. I still struggle with them now. If my confidence was in me, I'd be in trouble. This is why we memorized, by the way, that I am confident of this, that he who began a good work and you will bring it to completion on the day of Christ Jesus.

That's Philippians 1-6. That's why we memorize that, so that we could have confidence in his work, and God always keeps his promises. The third enemy of biblical contentment is this, is a is. is believing that this is your home, believing that this temporary thing that we live on is your forever home. We act like we're going to spend forever right here doing these kind of things.

I've told you this before, man, I travel a bunch. And can you imagine if I rolled up in the Holiday Inn Express and be like, this ain't doing it. Called down to the front desk, but hey, listen, I'm in room 203, and Lowe's going to be coming about here in a minute. Yep, Daddy don't walk on carpet. I need hardwoods. We're going to pull these.

We pull these carpet out. And my little kitchenette right here, we're pulling out whatever that linoleum-looking stuff is. We're going to put in some granite. I got to have silver refrigerator. That's the only thing I can eat out of. And then this little window that overlooks the pool that's kind of shady, we're going to bump it out

and made a breakfast nook. I'm sure holiday in we'd be like, well, while we appreciate your investment into our building here, it seems like an awful waste of money since you're going to be here for such a short time. See, we act like the temporaries forever. And it will rob you. of a biblical contentment,

this is why we memorize Philippians 121 for me to live as Christ and to die is gain. For me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. Now, while I'm alive, I've got a lot of work to do because hell is hot forever's a long time, but I know some lost people, so let's go. But when he takes me home, gain. Listen, man, if you're a believer,

I got some really good news for you. This is as close to hell as you'll ever be. That's it, man. Pollen, ain't no pollen in heaven, I promise. You understand? If you're not a believer, I have something shocking for you to consider. This is as close to heaven as you'll ever be. This is it.

To live as Christ, to die as gain. The fourth enemy of biblical contentment is complaining. It's complaining. Whenever we complain, what we're ultimately saying is we distrust God. God, you're not doing it right. God, you gave her too much and mean on enough. God, I don't have the circumstances that you have put me in. I'm not going to trust that you're at work in all circumstances.

I'm going to complain to everybody else about the circumstances that you have decided to put me in. You see, the reason that we're supposed to pray is because what we do is we take our frustration and we bring it to the only one that can do something about it. I say, God, I don't even understand right now, but I'm going to trust you with it. And the Bible makes this unbelievable promise, man. He says, do everything without complaining or arguing. So the next time you are ready to complain, like in the parking lot trying to get out, okay? I just want you to see if it falls in the everything category.

And if it does, the Apostle Paul goes, stop. Do everything without complaining or arguing that you might shine like stars in a crooked and depraved generation. Do you realize that? Do you know, maybe one of the most evangelistic things you could do in your office is shut up? When everybody else is griping about the new boss and the new HR system and I'm glad to work on Saturday and I'm going to work on Saturday and I mink gank gank and you just do what your mama said? If you ain't got something nice to say, just zh, don't say anything at all. You will be like if somebody put a star inside of your office and people would be like, what is this lack of complaining? I don't understand because our world swims in a river that is complaining and arguing.

The Greek word is Twitter. The fifth one, enemy. It's fear. Fear causes you to put your trust in your circumstances. Fear causes you to look into the future and believe when I get there, the enemy is going to be in charge. That's what fear is. This is why we memorize Secondivity 117. For God has not given you a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of self-control.

The fear is not a feeling. Fear is a spirit that does not come from God. What faith is when you look into the future, and you go, God, I don't understand what you're doing, but I know when I get there, you're a good dad, you still got the whole world in your hands. So you can be content today because you know he's in charge of today and tomorrow.

The sixth one, the sixth enemy of biblical contentment is this, is when you think your religious activity earns your right standing before God. It will wear you out. I mean, you ever met some people that are real proud of their religious resume? Are they not the most miserable people to be around? Here's the thing, man, they look at a Christian living in freedom,

and they just want what you have so bad. They're trying to make you stop everything you're doing. It'll wear you out. You see, there's a friend of mine here at the church named Jack Johnson, not like banana pancakes guy, but a dude just named Jack Johnson. And he says this, the only paperwork on the Day of Judgment that means anything is not your resume, but Christ's invitation. So we're saved by grace, man.

And so this is why we memorize Philippians 3.8, where Paul says, indeed, I count everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord, for his sake, I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as scubilion, rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ. When you realize that when Christ died on the cross and he says, it is finished, it counted for you, there is a contentment there that you can never earn. The seventh enemy of biblical contentment is this, man. it's entitlement.

If you think all the good things in your world are going to be handed to you, you're going to be a miserable person. Because listen, man, becoming a Christian is simple. Cost you nothing. You just receive a free gift of grace. Being a Christian is extremely hard. So do hard things. We follow a Savior who says, follow me, and he went to the cross.

Listen, man, if you want everybody to do hard things. to like you in this world. Whatever you do, don't be a Christian. Sell ice cream or something like that. You understand? And this is why we memorize. Philippians 312. It says not that I have already obtained this

or am already perfect, but I press on. We learned that word means sweat. I sweat to make it my own because Christ Jesus made me his own. Yeah, man, do hard things for the sake of the gospel. The eighth enemy of biblical contentment is this. It's anxiety. anxiety is a contentment robber. I don't know if you,

I don't know if you listen to the Deepen podcast, but last week or whenever it was a couple weeks ago, we differentiated between stress and anxiety. Stress is like when you feel some pressure, but it's aimed at something. And stress can be a good thing. Stress can help you focus. Like I get, I feel a serious weightiness

every single week when I get up here to preach, okay? And in fact, stress can be a good motive. elevator. So stress is easy to handle because you know how to put your finger on it. My daddy used to always say, a young man is like a flatbed truck. He rides better with a heavy load. You know what that means? Palacca, explain it to all the Pontivision people what we're talking about here, okay? I don't know what we're talking. All right. Anxiety, anxiety is like when you feel that stress or you feel that worry and you've got nowhere to put it so you just harbor it in here. and it will wear you out,

especially when you don't know. You're like looking around and you go, circumstantially, I should wake up and be happy and I can't turn happy on, you know? And you're just anxious. You see, here's what happens with anxiety. Here's why it's such a contentment robber. It's misplaced fear, misplaced stress.

I think this is why Jesus says this. Don't worry about tomorrow. There's plenty going on today because here's what we do. When we have, when we're filled with anxiety, what we tend to do is we look into the future and we presume the worst possible outcome in the future. And then we get all stressed out because we go, I don't know how I would handle that. Like we see somebody going through a divorce and you go, I don't know how I'd handle that. You see somebody lose a loved one and you go, I don't think I could handle that.

Well, of course you can because you're not there yet. Bible nerds, help me out here. When do new mercies come? New mercies come? In the morning, in the morning, in the morning. So Jesus says, how about just worry about today? Just get focused on today. Don't worry about tomorrow.

Why? Because the new mercy that you would need to walk through the thing that may come tomorrow, God doesn't give it to you yet because you don't need it because you're not walking through it right now. But trust me on this one, man, if you go through it, right, when life hits you, yea, when you walk to the valley of the shadow of death, you can fear no evil. Why? Because he's going to be with you there. And you'll get new mercies in the morning and his divine power will give you everything you need for life and godliness,

everything you need to accomplish everything that he has called you to do. Therefore, be anxious. We memorize this one. Be anxious for nothing. But by prayer and supplication with Thanksgiving, make your request to God. And the peace of God that transcends understanding will guard your heart and mind in Christ Jesus. That's why we memorize that one. The ninth one is this.

It's where we are here. is that self-reliance is a contentment killer man I mean if you think I got this I'm gonna pull myself by my bootstraps and you look down you're like I'm barefooted how am I going to do that? No you need someone to do for you what you can't do for yourself you need a champion you need a you need a dragon slayer you need a giant killer and it ain't you but the good news is man Christ Christ is the victorious one and then in Romans 8 we find out if you're in Christ, you are more than a conqueror.

Do you ever think about that? Everybody knows what a conqueror is. You conquer. What's more than a conqueror? I tell you what's more than a conqueror. If you are merely a soldier in the king's army, then when you win, you win and you get the plunder, but you go home.

But if you're the son of the king, then you're more than the conqueror because when the battle's over, you don't just go to your little dinky house. You go to the king's house and you stay with him because he's your dad. And who gets to walk into the king's chambers at 3 o'clock in the morning?

and be like, Daddy, I can get some juice or something? Who can wake up the king at 3 a.m.? Only his kids, man. And when you are more than a conquer, you can trust him, because the king of the universe just happens to be your heavenly father. Which leads to number 10,

the 10th enemy. I wish I had another word for it. Because the moment I say this word, you don't think it doesn't apply to you. So what's the tough one about this word? It's greed. greed will rob your contentment.

But here's the problem. Nobody thinks they're greedy. I mean, look at everybody in here. Ain't a person in here taking notes right now. I'm going to send this to my mother-in-law. That's a greedy woman right there, boy. Everybody thinks somebody else, man. See, it was crazy because we're based on how we feel, okay?

And so nobody thinks they're rich because they don't feel rich, even if you got to, even if you're rich. Because it doesn't, you know, it hadn't clicked in. and be like, ooh, who rich? And everybody feels generous. Not because you are generous, but you have generous feelings. You'd be sitting there watching a game and, when the arms of an egg, that comes on? And there's some cat dying in a cage,

you're like, oh, you don't do anything. But you're like, how generous am I that I just felt, mm-hmm, from a puppy in Sarah McLaughlin? I am so generous. You write a check? I don't write checks. Well, you're crazy.

We got starving children. What are you talking about? but you feel in your heart, right? Okay. But we're greedy, man. Anytime you think more is mine, you're greedy. There are three postures towards money. It's very basic.

If you think what's mine is mine, you're selfish. You're selfish. And if you've got any defensive vote over that right now, it's your greed. Some people think what yours is mine. That's called stealing. Unless you do it in groups. It's called socialism.

All right. I ain't got time for that one either. Don't work. Don't do it. Don't do it. Don't do it. Stop. Stop.

Stop. But what the Bible teaches is what mine is God's. What's mine is God's. That's it, man. That's called stewardship. And it's easy to give away something when you know that it doesn't belong to you. That everything we have is a blood-bought grace gift from the Lord. JP has my credit card on his phone.

That's the most gracious. lunch buyer at Providence High School. He's like, who needs some lunch right here? Boom, got him. It's like, Daddy, you want me to be generous? All right, I see what you're doing. Here's why, because he knows, I mean, we don't have an endless supply at my house, but we can cover lunch. So he's not scared, man. He's not afraid. And so what Paul is going to do for the rest of this letter is he is going to talk about this enemy of contentment, which is greed. See, I want this for you. Here's what he says. Back to Philippians 14. Yet it was kind of you to share my trouble

and you Philippians yourselves know that in the beginning of the gospel, when I left Macedonia, no church entered into partnership with me in giving and receiving except you only. Even in Thessalonica, you sent me help for my needs once again. Here's what he's saying. Thank you for being such a consistently generous church. You funded the ministry. You fueled what God was doing. Way to go. Love you, proud of you. Way to go.

verse 17 not that I seek the gift but I seek the fruit that increases to your credit Paul's like hey man I'm good on money but the reason I want you to be generous is not because I'm in need I've already learned the secret of being content when I'm in need but I want this for you not from you I hope you get this you see let me ask this are you generous towards God Are you generous towards God? And I want this for you. And here's what? 1122, we're doing real good in regards to generosity right now.

Actually, we have been for a long time. Okay? And as an organization, this church is very generous. But I can't disciple an organization. I disciple people, and the people make up the church. Do you see the difference? So again, man, it's going really, really good. That's not where this summary comes from.

It just comes from, this is where we are in Philippians. but are you generous towards God? Because I want this for you, because he says, when you are generous towards God, that there is a fruit that increases to your credit. And I want that credit for you. I want that blessing for you. Because the reality of this,

you see, at the end of the services, when we bring our tithes and our offerings, our first and our best, it is a reflection of our heart. And it does not matter how you reorient or reorder your life. If Christ is not before all things, if He is not first in your life, then your whole rest of your life is out of order.

And Jesus has the audacity to say, wherever your treasure is, your heart is right behind it. So he keeps going. He says, I have received full payment. And more, I am well supplied. Having received from Epaprodite, it's the gifts you sent me. Again, he's like, it's not about the money, we're good. It's about what God does in you when you treasure Christ

before all the treasures of the world. There's a contentment, man. There's something supernatural that happens. Look at what he calls it. A fragrant offering. A sacrifice acceptable and pleasing to God. And my God will supply every need, not want, every need of yours according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.

So you know at the end of every service we respond basically the same way. We're going to do it again in a little while, about five minutes. We sing because God's into it. We all join our voices together at all of our 10 locations, all over the place, including our two prison campuses, and we all pray the same prayers via song to say, God, you're worth it, you're worthy of our worship. We sing, and we pray, we pray.

We said, cast all your cares upon him. He cares for you. You're more than a conqueror. He's your dad. Are you worried? You anxious about summit, something. Then cast it on him. Come on, that's why we make such a big deal about prayer.

And we bring our first and our best, our ties and our offerings. And here's what happens. Look what he calls it. When you do that, it's an act of worship. It's a fragrant offering. It's a sacrifice acceptable and pleasing to God. And you are declaring that I trust that my God will supply every need of mine according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.

That's it, man. You see, the reality is this. When the Bible talks about a tithe, it literally means 10%, but it means more than that. It really means the first, the best. And we're all tithing to something. Do you know this? we are all taking the first and best that we have

and we are putting it in something hoping it will do for us what it just can't do for us that it'll provide and protect like your house can't ever do that for you like you get you a dream house right like oh when I'm moving there it's gonna be it's gonna all of my temporary appetites will be fully and finally satisfied

and then you have a baby and they try to tear it apart like a gremlin right And then you've got to be careful because if you want to keep it the way you want it, you can't even enjoy it as a home. The other day, Gretchen cleaned our house all up. Boy, it even smelled good. I come walking into the door, and we're all sitting around the little kitchen island. And we've got one of those fancy sinks with a little, like, so the kids can spray all over the house.

But she grabbed it like a microphone and she said, attention family, I have thoroughly cleaned the house. If you could just move out, okay, right? You can't even enjoy the thing because you don't want to get it dirty. You see, we all tied to something. It just can't do for you what the Lord wants to do for you. See, here's the biggest lie about money, right? Here's the lie. Your money will lie to you, and here's what your money says.

Your money says, if you love me, I'll love you back. That's the lie. If you love me, I'll love you back. How are you going to love me, money? I'm going to satisfy you, and I'm going to keep you safe. That's it. Satisfaction, security. That's it.

And here's what we all know. I don't care how much money you have, one phone call this afternoon and all your feelings of security could go away just like that, right? What's your money going to do? It can't. And no matter how much money you have, you'll never be fully even finally satisfied by it. See the Lincoln commercial from earlier. It just can't do it. And yet God wants this from you. You see, that's why he's saying, bring me your first and your best. Because where your treasury is, there, your heart will be also. And God promises, I will. I will love you. Even when you don't love me first, I will love you. And I'm a good dad and I take

care of my kids. Even if you can't understand exactly what I'm doing right now, I promise that I am at work in all things for the good of those that love him and are called according to his purpose. And when you begin to trust me with everything in your life, there is a transcendent peace that doesn't even make sense. And you find that joy in me because I love you. And then, Paul goes on to say, to our God and Father be glory forever and ever amen. He's still saying, and it's still not about me, man. It's not about the ministry I run. It's all about the glory of God.

And then you know he's a preacher because he says, amen, but he ain't done. He's got a couple more lines he wants to throw in there. He says this, this is how he ends the letter. Greet every saint in Christ Jesus. The brothers who are with me greet you. All the saints greet you, especially those of Caesar's household. He's like, you want to talk about contentment?

Don't feel bad for me. But Paul, you're in a Roman prison. He's like, I know. I've always wanted to come to Rome. Do you remember Romans chapter 1? That's what I was trying to do. I was trying to get to wrong because I had a message to proclaim.

I thought I was going to go as a preacher. I showed up in Rome as a prisoner. Now, this is a little bit of Christian historical speculation on my part, but I don't think you can convince me otherwise. 300 years from the time he writes this letter, actually about 250 years from the time he writes this letter, over 50% of the Roman Empire claimed Jesus Christ is their Lord and Savior.

Do you think it could be because he's leading all of the household in Caesar's palace to Christ and the amount of influence they have is the way that the gospel made it to the four corners of the world? He says, I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, including this one.

And then he lays it down this way. the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Here's the point. I said I had a secret. The secret is that contentment is found in Christ. My question for you is this, do you want peace? You want true contentment regardless of the circumstances? Do you want a joy that cannot be taken away from you?

Last Monday, we were doing that event here for the C-Morkewarm. Martin Ranch. By the way, you bawled out. Way to go. City of Martin Ranch is one of our 10-10 partners. It's Christian families that take in kids that have fallen out of the foster care system. It's awesome. So we raised awareness and money and all that, and we did a worship night here. Place was packed. And Olson and all the crew

led worship, and then Gary LaVox, the Rascal flat dude got up here and he's saying it was cool. But what you may not know is that the guy who had the whole idea was a guy named Keith Kelly. Keith's friend of mine, he runs a place called D.D.D. Ranch right down the road here. And he's sitting right here on the front row, and I'm sitting right over there while we're worshiping. And a part of the deal

is that Keith and Tammy, they lost their 14-year-old son three years ago in a freaky car accident. Let me say everybody, every parent's worst nightmare, right? And he wanted to put this thing together to point some energy at C. Mark Ranch because he just wanted to give testimony to this very famous verse that God is at work in all things for the good of those that love him are called according to his purpose. And he just wanted to give testimony that God could take his darkest hour of his family's life and use it for his own good. Even though we don't fully understand why, but we trust him. We look into the future and we can trust God because he's a good God. Can you imagine having to give that testimony in front of a packed house in here? And he's sitting

down there and we are singing this song called Graves in the Gardens. And there's a couple lines in here that says this, nothing is better than you. And I sit in there in my spot, and I see Keith and his wife Tammy and their whole family are here. Mom and Daddy, their whole family, got both hands in the air, about to get a testimony of their greatest nightmare coming true, losing their child. And with both hands in the air, they are saying, nothing, nothing, nothing is better than you. That's a piece that transcends understanding. You want that? You want a joy that can't be taken?

You want a contentment that's not based on your circumstances, no matter what? It's yours for the taking. Christ literally offers it to you. He gives you this invitation. These are his words, word for word. He says this. It's in Matthew 11th. He says this, come to me all who labor and are heavy laden.

That's the opposite of contentment, amen. He says, come to me all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you. you rest, take my yoke upon you and learn for me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. Paul calls it a secret of being content. Jesus calls it a rest for your souls. That's available to you right now. All you've got to do is answer is invitation. All you've got to do is come to him. So let me tell you what's happening in some of you right now. Some of you hear the voice of Jesus calling out to you, and it's louder than what you usually hear with your ears. It's louder because he's speaking down here where it matters down at the

soul, the heart level, the only place that can do something about contentment, the only place that can do something when you're exhausted and heavy laden. And it's simple invitation is this, won't you come to me? Once you realize you ain't got this? You're not a mistakeer that needs to try harder. Won't you come to me? Won't you believe that when I died on the cross and I said, it is finished? I had you in mind, and if you'll just believe, it'll count for you forever. want you to surrender and confess me as Lord. That's how you come to him. So you want to come? You want to come? I want to give you the opportunity to come to him and to receive forgiveness and adoption and eternity and a peace that transcends understanding of rest for your soul. Will you bow your

heads? Will you close your eyes? And if you would say that's me right now for the very first time, I'm ready to surrender my life to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. I hear the invitation of Christ in a way that I may not be able to describe, but I can't deny it. And right now in this moment, I want to surrender my life to Christ. If that's you, would you raise your hand high right where you are as you can? There you go. Praise God. Praise God.

Our good and gracious Heavenly Father, God, we love you more than anything because you loved us first. And God, I thank you that you have this for your people. This is what you want for your people. Lord, I pray that we would reject the enemies of a contentment that you have for us, that we could be at peace with you. and understand the peace of God. And God, that would drive us to advance the kingdom in your name.

Lord, I pray, by an overwhelming move of the Spirit of God that we would be able to say, no matter my lot, thou hast taught me to say, it is well, it is well with my soul. God, the only way we can say it is through the powerful, the beautiful, the matchless, and undefeated name of Jesus Christ.

our Lord and Savior. Amen. Church, would you please stand? Here's what we're going to do. You ought to be real good at it because I already told you seven minutes ago what we're going to do. We're going to respond. We're going to pray. Some of you should be sprinting here now. You don't have to wait until the song starts. You can start coming now. And I've already ordered more carpets for future. So we're going to load this place up. So come on and pray if you need to pray. We're going to bring our ties and offerings. Be generous to God. Be as generous as you've ever been and released the grip of this world on you.

And we're going to sing. And listen, we're going to sing two songs. Revival, okay, don't leave. And you're going to want to stick around for the second song and declare the truth of the gospel. Let's sing, let's bring, let's pray. Let's respond.