The Secret to Contentment

WEBVTT 1 00:00:02.000 --> 00:00:05.000 I if you're able, please remain standing and let's hear God's word. Now 2 00:00:05.040 --> 00:00:21.980 from Philippians, says Philippians, Chapter Four, verses ten through thirteen. Philippians 3 00:00:22.019 --> 00:00:28.460 four ten through thirteen. I rejoiced in the Lord greatly that now, at 4 00:00:28.500 --> 00:00:33.100 length, you have revived your concern for me. You were indeed concerned for 5 00:00:33.179 --> 00:00:37.210 me, but you had no opportunity. Not that I am speaking of being 6 00:00:37.289 --> 00:00:41.049 in need, for I have learned, in whatever situation I am, to 7 00:00:41.170 --> 00:00:45.289 be content. I know how to be brought low and I know how to 8 00:00:45.409 --> 00:00:50.240 abound in any and every circumstance. I have learned the secret of facing plenty 9 00:00:50.439 --> 00:00:54.759 and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through him who 10 00:00:54.799 --> 00:01:08.709 strengthens me. Amen. You may be seated. Well, these verses Philippians 11 00:01:08.750 --> 00:01:15.590 four ten through thirteen, Paul begins to close his letter to the Philippians, 12 00:01:15.870 --> 00:01:19.980 this letter that he's been writing from prison, from a place of persecution and 13 00:01:21.459 --> 00:01:26.579 difficulty, I'm he finishes his letter by speaking about his needs and the way 14 00:01:26.700 --> 00:01:32.099 that the Philippians have a revived their concern for him and the various ways in 15 00:01:32.180 --> 00:01:37.409 which they've responded to that need. He begins talking about that situation. In 16 00:01:37.609 --> 00:01:41.329 verse ten, which we read, he says, I rejoiced in the Lord 17 00:01:41.450 --> 00:01:44.689 greatly that now, at length, you have revived your concern for me. 18 00:01:46.250 --> 00:01:51.120 He picks that up then again in verse fourteen and talks about the the troubles 19 00:01:51.159 --> 00:01:55.359 that they have shared together. He talks about the concern that they have had, 20 00:01:56.519 --> 00:02:00.280 he talks about the how he feels about it on how they are to 21 00:02:00.400 --> 00:02:04.750 think about it, how God sees it, and will consider these things, 22 00:02:05.109 --> 00:02:10.069 but we're going to consider them next time because before Paul moves fully into a 23 00:02:10.189 --> 00:02:15.500 discussion of this relationship that he has with the Philippians and this particular context of 24 00:02:15.620 --> 00:02:22.060 his need, he pauses in Verse Eleven, Twelve and thirteen, which we 25 00:02:22.259 --> 00:02:27.860 read. He pauses in these verses to make a comment about his needs. 26 00:02:27.900 --> 00:02:34.169 He takes a couple of verses to Orient Their thinking, and are thinking as 27 00:02:34.250 --> 00:02:39.409 well about needing things, about having needs and, in particular, what it 28 00:02:39.490 --> 00:02:45.599 means to be content in them. So I'm we will take a moment to 29 00:02:45.719 --> 00:02:53.479 pause here and think about these needs generally, just needs. We all have 30 00:02:53.680 --> 00:02:55.520 needs. Paul had them, the Philippians have them, we have them, 31 00:02:57.120 --> 00:03:01.430 food, sleep, money, clothing, shelter, spiritual needs, as well 32 00:03:02.629 --> 00:03:08.710 justification, acceptance, community, peace and our souls, and there's all kinds 33 00:03:08.710 --> 00:03:13.460 of very good things we can say that we need. There's, of course, 34 00:03:13.699 --> 00:03:17.580 things we say we need that we shouldn't even want. But even just 35 00:03:17.699 --> 00:03:23.580 thinking of those things that Rifley are needed, and Paul speaks in a very 36 00:03:23.699 --> 00:03:30.810 particular way about them, and orients are thinking in a very particular way and 37 00:03:30.969 --> 00:03:34.090 we want to consider what God has to say in this place, in another 38 00:03:34.210 --> 00:03:38.610 passages, about how we think about them, about how we think about our 39 00:03:38.729 --> 00:03:44.159 needs. So the first thing we will say this evening is that contentment is 40 00:03:44.319 --> 00:03:49.240 the chief way that we hold our needs. Contentment is the chief way that 41 00:03:49.360 --> 00:03:55.030 we hold our needs. Notice what Paul says in Verse Eleven. He says 42 00:03:55.310 --> 00:04:00.030 not that I'm speaking of being in need, for I have learned, in 43 00:04:00.189 --> 00:04:05.349 whatever situation I am, to be content. It's interesting what he does here. 44 00:04:05.430 --> 00:04:11.979 He cut connects contentment so closely to his needs that in a certain way 45 00:04:12.460 --> 00:04:18.699 contentment even overshadows his need. It even sort of erases it. He said 46 00:04:18.740 --> 00:04:24.139 as not that I have needs, not that I'm speaking of being in need. 47 00:04:24.410 --> 00:04:28.889 Why? Because in whatever situation I am in, content, I'm content. 48 00:04:30.089 --> 00:04:32.769 There's all kinds of examples. You might think of what that feels like, 49 00:04:33.649 --> 00:04:38.569 but you know it when your content, when you're content the things that 50 00:04:38.680 --> 00:04:43.439 you might normally want and desire, sometimes even voraciously. You say, well, 51 00:04:43.560 --> 00:04:48.240 I'm fine, I'm good, don't really have any needs. There's a 52 00:04:48.279 --> 00:04:54.269 way in which contentment is so connected, I'm tour his needs, that contentment 53 00:04:55.189 --> 00:05:00.389 overshadows them in a sense, or even a races them. This is significant 54 00:05:00.470 --> 00:05:03.269 because, as I mentioned a moment ago, Paul is one who certainly has 55 00:05:03.509 --> 00:05:11.139 needs and expresses them in various ways. Paul is persecuted, he's in prison, 56 00:05:11.660 --> 00:05:16.180 he faces loneliness and other difficulties, and yet he says not that I'm 57 00:05:16.180 --> 00:05:21.089 speaking of being in need. So the first thing we might learn here is 58 00:05:21.129 --> 00:05:26.649 that when we hold our needs in the cup of contentment, we find ourselves 59 00:05:26.810 --> 00:05:32.569 in our needs, very happy, very satisfied. The opposite is also true. 60 00:05:33.410 --> 00:05:39.199 When contentment is absent in connection to our needs, a much harm is 61 00:05:39.319 --> 00:05:46.959 done. William Perkins, one of the English puritans connect compares this to a 62 00:05:46.120 --> 00:05:51.949 see. See that spills over its banks and floods the land can destroy and 63 00:05:53.069 --> 00:05:58.269 do a lot of harm. Likewise, when our needs and desires remain uncontrolled 64 00:05:58.350 --> 00:06:04.660 by contentment, those needs, those desires, those affections become uncontrolled and even 65 00:06:05.100 --> 00:06:13.060 destructive to ourselves and to other people. A French reformer from the seventeen century 66 00:06:13.139 --> 00:06:17.220 said ignorance of this secret is the cause of the greater part of our miseries. 67 00:06:18.610 --> 00:06:25.290 Wars happen because, often because leaders and countries and kings are discontent with 68 00:06:25.449 --> 00:06:30.850 what they have. Same for thieves and robbers. Families, businesses, churches 69 00:06:30.889 --> 00:06:36.240 are often destroyed by this very thing. Lacking contentment in what they have, 70 00:06:36.839 --> 00:06:43.079 wanting something that someone else has, either a thing or a position, a 71 00:06:43.240 --> 00:06:48.750 place. Remember the great peace that was in Israel until Absalom decided that he 72 00:06:48.990 --> 00:06:55.470 wanted his father's throne. or think of a Nay boss vineyard being taken from 73 00:06:55.470 --> 00:07:00.389 him because of a king deciding that he wanted something for himself, or of 74 00:07:00.579 --> 00:07:06.019 wanting things that are unholy. It's even worse Israel wanting the worship of Baal 75 00:07:06.740 --> 00:07:14.060 and other gods. When we allow our needs, even good needs, to 76 00:07:14.180 --> 00:07:19.810 become uncontrollable, when we disconnect, when we disconnect contentment from our needs, 77 00:07:19.850 --> 00:07:27.170 we become more like beasts than like men. Here we learn in this passage 78 00:07:27.250 --> 00:07:30.800 that we are not to let our needs and desires control us, but through 79 00:07:30.959 --> 00:07:36.800 contentment we are to control them. Listen to passages like first Timothy one eight. 80 00:07:38.600 --> 00:07:43.399 But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be satisfied. 81 00:07:44.910 --> 00:07:50.430 That's a pretty short list, isn't it? Or Hebrews Thirteen five, 82 00:07:51.430 --> 00:07:58.430 keep your life free from the love of money and be content with what you 83 00:07:58.579 --> 00:08:03.620 have. So the so contentment, we might say, is the Christian way 84 00:08:03.819 --> 00:08:09.459 to carry our needs. And so I'll ask, how are you doing with 85 00:08:09.620 --> 00:08:16.649 that when it comes to food and clothing and sleep? When it comes to 86 00:08:16.889 --> 00:08:22.930 spiritual needs, maybe your level of sanctification, Yourr level of assurance from the 87 00:08:22.050 --> 00:08:28.319 father. How often do you find yourselves dreaming about things that you don't have 88 00:08:30.439 --> 00:08:37.799 or saying, if I only had x, everything would be okay? If 89 00:08:37.840 --> 00:08:41.549 you know yourself as one who acts in these UNCHRISTIAN or, as I said 90 00:08:41.590 --> 00:08:48.549 earlier, even beastly ways, then you see yourself rightly and you're not selfdeceived. 91 00:08:50.710 --> 00:08:54.429 Ever since Adam and Eve first decided that what they want, that what 92 00:08:54.549 --> 00:08:58.980 they wanted was what they didn't have, that they could take what they had 93 00:09:00.059 --> 00:09:05.259 not been given, even something that had been forbidden them, we have all 94 00:09:05.460 --> 00:09:11.129 struggled against these sins. Apostle Paul speaks about them in relation to himself as 95 00:09:11.169 --> 00:09:15.929 well, in another place, and as one who struggles along with you with 96 00:09:16.370 --> 00:09:22.490 contentment. What to point you to the scriptures. I'm continuing looking at Philippians 97 00:09:22.529 --> 00:09:26.799 four, ten through thirteen and show you some of the things that we often 98 00:09:28.000 --> 00:09:33.120 miss when we think about contentment and some reasons that contentment often goes wrong. 99 00:09:33.440 --> 00:09:39.029 There are certain errors that we make in are thinking about contentment. I'm very 100 00:09:39.110 --> 00:09:46.990 serious, and fundamental errors I'll tend I'll mention for the first is that contentment 101 00:09:46.190 --> 00:09:52.539 is magical. Sometimes we think of contentment like having perfect pitch. It's something 102 00:09:52.659 --> 00:09:58.379 you have or something you don't. But that's not what Paul says about contentment. 103 00:09:58.220 --> 00:10:03.820 What does he say? He says I have learned. I have learned, 104 00:10:05.059 --> 00:10:09.370 in whatever situation, to be content. I know how he says. 105 00:10:11.250 --> 00:10:15.610 Contentment, then, is, we might say, is comparable in a sense 106 00:10:15.690 --> 00:10:18.970 to a certain skill. This could be said of godliness in general. There's 107 00:10:20.009 --> 00:10:24.840 a certain skill in Godliness, principles that must be learned and applied in all 108 00:10:24.960 --> 00:10:31.639 of their various ways, and they apply differently and difficult in different circumstances. 109 00:10:31.679 --> 00:10:37.110 He knows how to be brought low and how to abound. We are called, 110 00:10:37.269 --> 00:10:41.350 therefore, not to wait for a magical spell of contentment to fall down 111 00:10:41.429 --> 00:10:48.269 upon us, but we are to make contentment our study. Are Serious study. 112 00:10:50.700 --> 00:10:54.820 Do you have needs all the time, then you must learn to be 113 00:10:54.059 --> 00:11:01.779 content all the time. It is something to grow in and learn. The 114 00:11:01.899 --> 00:11:05.169 second error we make is that contentment, we think that contentment is only found 115 00:11:05.210 --> 00:11:11.450 in things that are good. Notice what Paul doesn't say. Paul doesn't say, 116 00:11:11.049 --> 00:11:15.289 Oh, Lord, satisfy my needs so that I can be content. 117 00:11:16.330 --> 00:11:20.840 He says he has learned to be content in all situations. Contentment, satisfaction 118 00:11:22.080 --> 00:11:26.480 doesn't just happen when we're full, either in our stomachs or our bank accounts 119 00:11:26.559 --> 00:11:31.120 or in our the the love of our spouse or any other thing you might 120 00:11:31.159 --> 00:11:37.269 mention, and it happens in plenty and in want. He has learned to 121 00:11:37.309 --> 00:11:41.789 be content in all situations, not just the ones we typically label is good. 122 00:11:43.389 --> 00:11:46.539 Contentment, therefore, is not only, I should say, contentment is 123 00:11:46.659 --> 00:11:52.220 not magical, as I mentioned already, but it's also not dependent on our 124 00:11:52.299 --> 00:11:56.980 circumstances. We don't wait around for this and that thing to change before we 125 00:11:58.019 --> 00:12:03.490 can be content. We don't wait around for a particular thing to happen on 126 00:12:03.610 --> 00:12:07.610 our lives before we can finally say, okay, now I can be content 127 00:12:07.049 --> 00:12:13.330 and satisfied with what God has done in my life. So contentment is not 128 00:12:13.529 --> 00:12:20.480 magical. Contentment is not only found when things are good, or, to 129 00:12:20.679 --> 00:12:26.799 put it another way, contentment is not dependent on your circumstances. The third 130 00:12:26.840 --> 00:12:31.230 error we make is we think that contentment is not a challenge when things are 131 00:12:31.269 --> 00:12:35.029 good. This is, of course, related to the thing I just mentioned. 132 00:12:35.509 --> 00:12:39.789 On the one hand, we think that contentment is only found in things 133 00:12:39.870 --> 00:12:43.149 are good, and then we make the second, or a double error in 134 00:12:43.230 --> 00:12:48.220 thinking that contentment is no problem when things are good. Not only is it 135 00:12:48.740 --> 00:12:54.100 not automatic when we're rich and healthy and well supplied, but these very things, 136 00:12:54.539 --> 00:13:01.889 wealth and health, pose a special and particular challenge to contentment. The 137 00:13:03.490 --> 00:13:09.049 examples I've given earlier of Ahab and Absalom Ring True. These were men who 138 00:13:09.049 --> 00:13:16.000 had a lot. We're well supplied and had many good things and yet could 139 00:13:16.000 --> 00:13:20.879 not be content. We can add a third A to this list. Americans, 140 00:13:22.039 --> 00:13:28.789 you'd think if goodness and supply were the things that brought about contentment, 141 00:13:28.230 --> 00:13:33.110 we would be the happiest people in all the world. We have such easy 142 00:13:33.269 --> 00:13:39.750 access to food and clean water pouring continually out of our houses, even when 143 00:13:39.789 --> 00:13:46.700 the longest of drafts are going on. We have such a variety and food 144 00:13:46.940 --> 00:13:52.139 and clothing and even beyond that, education opportunities for both men and women, 145 00:13:52.740 --> 00:14:00.730 not only informal institutions, but a countless number of books, not just education 146 00:14:00.889 --> 00:14:07.370 but entertainment as well. Almost anything we can imagine we have. And yet 147 00:14:07.370 --> 00:14:13.039 are we content? Have we finally reached this place where we can say we 148 00:14:13.200 --> 00:14:18.279 have enough? Of course not. We just clamor and clamor for more and 149 00:14:18.440 --> 00:14:30.029 more and more and more. Both poverty and riches come with their own special 150 00:14:30.070 --> 00:14:37.190 challenges. Proverbs thirty eight or dresses this directly. We read there, give 151 00:14:37.269 --> 00:14:45.220 me neither poverty nor nor riches. Free Feed me with food that is needful 152 00:14:45.340 --> 00:14:50.539 for me, lest I be full and deny you and say who is Jehovah, 153 00:14:50.580 --> 00:14:54.769 or lest I be poor and steal and profane the name of God. 154 00:14:58.370 --> 00:15:01.169 The fact of the matter is most of us will find ourselves in one situation 155 00:15:01.289 --> 00:15:05.490 or another. We will find ourselves in plenty or in want. Even as 156 00:15:05.529 --> 00:15:11.360 the Apostle Paul found himself in. But this proverb expresses a kind of frame 157 00:15:11.399 --> 00:15:16.799 of mind and an attitude. It's reminding us that there are dangers on both 158 00:15:16.840 --> 00:15:20.470 sides of this. Do you ever consider that when you're simple it, when 159 00:15:20.509 --> 00:15:24.389 you're always wishing for that next good thing to happen so that you can be 160 00:15:24.590 --> 00:15:31.629 content? Do you ever think, does the thought ever cross your mind that 161 00:15:31.789 --> 00:15:37.379 perhaps there is danger even when the next good thing comes, when the bonus 162 00:15:37.539 --> 00:15:43.659 happens or you get some new promotion? Is there not something to be at 163 00:15:43.700 --> 00:15:50.009 least slightly concerned about when we consider the warnings of proverbs and other scriptures? 164 00:15:52.330 --> 00:16:00.769 So these are things to correct our thinking. Contentment is not magical, contentment 165 00:16:00.929 --> 00:16:07.200 is not dependent on our circumstances. Contentment is not only a challenge in poverty, 166 00:16:07.360 --> 00:16:14.519 but also, and maybe even especially, in wealth. The last error 167 00:16:14.559 --> 00:16:22.190 I'll mention is that we think this. We think that contentment is achievable apart 168 00:16:22.230 --> 00:16:27.669 from God, as he gives himself to us in Christ and of all the 169 00:16:27.750 --> 00:16:32.710 errors that I've mentioned so far, this one is most certainly the chief one, 170 00:16:33.740 --> 00:16:41.620 because we know from even our pagan neighbors, are unbelieving neighbors, that 171 00:16:41.139 --> 00:16:47.690 they have a certain sense in them of these commandments, a certain sense that 172 00:16:48.169 --> 00:16:55.169 contentment is something that should be aspired to and and achieved. People know that 173 00:16:55.289 --> 00:17:00.730 they shouldn't be greedy covet other people's things and be happy with what they have, 174 00:17:02.360 --> 00:17:07.319 and even the most mature of the unbelievers will strive towards this, will 175 00:17:07.559 --> 00:17:14.839 strive towards letting go, not being caught up and bound in materialism, finding 176 00:17:15.039 --> 00:17:21.230 contentment and knowing the great value in it. But the mistake there is not 177 00:17:21.470 --> 00:17:26.910 necessarily in pursuing it, but in thinking that it's possible to attain it apart 178 00:17:26.910 --> 00:17:32.619 from God, as he gives himself to US in Christ. To put it 179 00:17:33.059 --> 00:17:38.539 positively true, contentment is only possible when we know that our needs are secure 180 00:17:40.380 --> 00:17:45.609 in the grace of Christ. Consider this question. How can any person be 181 00:17:45.809 --> 00:17:52.130 truly content when they're ultimately dissatisfied with the God who gives all things? How 182 00:17:52.250 --> 00:17:56.890 can you be content with any amount of food or clothing or or station in 183 00:17:57.049 --> 00:18:02.599 life when you are ultimately upset and dissatisfied with the one who brings all those 184 00:18:02.640 --> 00:18:07.599 things, this one who gives us all good things in this life, who 185 00:18:07.720 --> 00:18:11.400 knows that we are dust and cares for us in His grace, and not 186 00:18:11.559 --> 00:18:17.269 only believers but unbelievers as well. We're told that the rain falls on the 187 00:18:17.390 --> 00:18:22.950 just and the unjust. We see God's provision for mankind all over the face 188 00:18:22.069 --> 00:18:26.380 of the earth, whether they belong to his church or not. God's goodness 189 00:18:26.500 --> 00:18:33.619 displayed in so many ways, countless numbers of ways. And yet if a 190 00:18:33.779 --> 00:18:38.779 person is ultimately dissatisfied and unhappy or, more truly to the point, at 191 00:18:38.940 --> 00:18:45.289 war with the one who supplies their needs, will there be contentment? And 192 00:18:45.609 --> 00:18:52.369 that when people search for contentment apart from God, what will they find? 193 00:18:52.690 --> 00:19:00.079 Just dry wells in themselves and in other places they'll find these little pools of 194 00:19:00.279 --> 00:19:06.000 water where they might get a little self help from a motivational book or find 195 00:19:06.079 --> 00:19:08.200 a teaching that helps them to let go of a few more things in their 196 00:19:08.359 --> 00:19:14.910 life, but ultimately it will run dot dry over and over again. Why? 197 00:19:15.990 --> 00:19:21.069 Because these things are temporal and fading. There are external needs that will 198 00:19:21.069 --> 00:19:26.180 always be pressing, another bill to pay, another thing to do, another 199 00:19:26.420 --> 00:19:32.500 tempting gadget to try and enjoy, and internally we will always respond to these 200 00:19:32.579 --> 00:19:37.819 things. The old, the sinful flesh, will always fear lacking, will 201 00:19:37.980 --> 00:19:41.809 fear our lives, fear not having food lest we die and fall under the 202 00:19:41.930 --> 00:19:49.329 curse of God. Inside we will always struggle with covetousness, will know the 203 00:19:49.450 --> 00:19:56.480 weakness of our flesh, the turmoil and that we have inside. Without peace 204 00:19:56.720 --> 00:20:04.359 with God, we're still. When you're at war with the one who supplies 205 00:20:04.480 --> 00:20:11.549 everything, you will not only know his goodness, but also his wrath, 206 00:20:11.589 --> 00:20:15.789 as he who withholds things from your life or, as the case may be, 207 00:20:17.549 --> 00:20:23.500 give you over to the things that you desire so dearly, wrath in 208 00:20:23.579 --> 00:20:30.019 this life and wrath in the life to come. But when we come to 209 00:20:30.140 --> 00:20:34.059 God, as he freely gives himself to us in Christ, our position with 210 00:20:34.099 --> 00:20:42.890 him changes in such a dramatic way that contentment actually becomes possible, because it's 211 00:20:42.930 --> 00:20:48.490 something that becomes, it's something that is given to us, rather than something 212 00:20:48.529 --> 00:20:56.720 that we finally achieve. Even contentment itself. Consider it when we come to 213 00:20:56.920 --> 00:21:00.519 God, a God who has blessed us with, as we read in Ephesians, 214 00:21:00.559 --> 00:21:07.269 every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, when we come to a God 215 00:21:07.470 --> 00:21:11.990 who has said I will care for your body and soul from now and for 216 00:21:11.269 --> 00:21:18.269 all eternity, and death itself will not be able to stop my provision for 217 00:21:18.470 --> 00:21:22.420 you that you, in your place in Christ, will come to the resurrection 218 00:21:22.980 --> 00:21:30.740 of life. Who needs to worry about food? Who needs to worry about 219 00:21:30.779 --> 00:21:37.210 the possibility of dying, when you have been promised no death, when you've 220 00:21:37.250 --> 00:21:41.930 been promised each eternal life in the one who died for you and was risen 221 00:21:42.089 --> 00:21:45.410 for you, or, to put it another way, in the one in 222 00:21:45.569 --> 00:21:53.440 whom you died and were risen with. God has blessed us with every spiritual 223 00:21:53.599 --> 00:22:00.880 blessing, but also every physical blessing. That's hard to see sometimes in this 224 00:22:00.160 --> 00:22:07.549 life when we say I'm hungry and I don't have enough money, but God 225 00:22:07.630 --> 00:22:12.910 does provide for these things, in temporal ways, but ultimately in spiritual ones 226 00:22:12.950 --> 00:22:21.299 as well. He couples are physical and temporal needs to ultimately to spiritual ones 227 00:22:21.299 --> 00:22:26.339 as well, and he, we works with them both to provide for us. 228 00:22:26.819 --> 00:22:32.329 And in this together we find that we can truly rest in God because 229 00:22:32.450 --> 00:22:37.410 we have everything we could ever need in him. We have no need for 230 00:22:37.450 --> 00:22:41.529 the justification of men because we are justified in Christ. We have no need 231 00:22:41.609 --> 00:22:48.039 to strive after some kind of approximate morality when we've been given justification and promise 232 00:22:48.160 --> 00:22:52.839 that God will sanctify us and even one day glorify us. We have no 233 00:22:53.000 --> 00:22:59.990 need to cobble together various communities so that we can finally find rest with fellow 234 00:23:00.029 --> 00:23:04.630 men, because God has given us the church. He gives us peace and 235 00:23:04.750 --> 00:23:10.829 joy and love. He gives us our daily bread and calls us even to 236 00:23:11.029 --> 00:23:22.140 pray for it. Beloved your God's Kids, God's kids, his children, 237 00:23:22.220 --> 00:23:27.329 whom he cares for and loves, whom he's bought and paid for with a 238 00:23:27.529 --> 00:23:36.289 price, signed your birth certificate with his own blood. No wonder Paul says 239 00:23:36.329 --> 00:23:40.650 that he can find contentment or in verse thirteen. I can do all things 240 00:23:40.730 --> 00:23:49.039 through him, who strengthens me because he is resting in Christ. Earlier I 241 00:23:49.119 --> 00:23:55.119 read you Hebrews Thirteen Five. I said, quoted from the scripture, keep 242 00:23:55.119 --> 00:23:59.309 your life free from the love of money and be content with what you have. 243 00:24:00.069 --> 00:24:06.509 This verse continues, for he has said, I will never leave you 244 00:24:07.269 --> 00:24:14.500 nor forsake you. There's the promise, there's the promise that we rely on 245 00:24:15.140 --> 00:24:21.819 that brings about the contentment, that in which we carry our needs. Jesus 246 00:24:21.859 --> 00:24:26.970 says a similar things in Matthew A, chapter six and seven. Chap Matthew 247 00:24:27.170 --> 00:24:33.970 Chapter six and seven. I'll read them to you. In Matthew Chapter six, 248 00:24:33.089 --> 00:24:37.890 there's an extended passage here, Jesus says. Therefore, I tell you, 249 00:24:37.009 --> 00:24:41.440 do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what 250 00:24:41.559 --> 00:24:44.480 you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. 251 00:24:45.000 --> 00:24:49.519 Is Life not more than food and the body more than clothing? Then he 252 00:24:49.559 --> 00:24:53.150 gives an example, he gives an illustration to drive home this point. I 253 00:24:53.990 --> 00:25:00.029 hope you're familiar with it and think about it often. He says, look 254 00:25:00.029 --> 00:25:04.069 at the birds of the air. They neither sow nor reap nor gather into 255 00:25:04.069 --> 00:25:10.579 their barns, and yet your heavenly father feeds them. Are you of not? 256 00:25:11.220 --> 00:25:15.380 Are you not of more value than they? He gives another example. 257 00:25:15.619 --> 00:25:19.460 And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field. 258 00:25:19.980 --> 00:25:23.849 How they grow? They neither toil nor spin. Yet I tell you, 259 00:25:25.049 --> 00:25:27.490 even Solomon, in all his glory, was not a raid like one of 260 00:25:27.529 --> 00:25:32.930 these. But if God so close the grass of the field, which today 261 00:25:33.009 --> 00:25:37.920 is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, what will will he not 262 00:25:37.160 --> 00:25:42.400 much more clothe you, oh you of little faith? Therefore, do not 263 00:25:42.519 --> 00:25:47.039 be anxious, saying what shall we eat, or what shall we drink, 264 00:25:47.079 --> 00:25:51.150 or what shall we wear? For the gentile seek after these things, and 265 00:25:51.269 --> 00:25:56.390 your heavenly father knows that you need them all. Seek first the Kingdom of 266 00:25:56.470 --> 00:26:02.349 God and his righteousness, and these things will be added to you. Where 267 00:26:02.430 --> 00:26:07.019 is the Kingdom of God and his righteousness found? In the one who speaks 268 00:26:07.099 --> 00:26:12.539 these words? In Jesus. In Jesus, in his death and in his 269 00:26:12.660 --> 00:26:17.819 resurrection on our behalf. In he is bringing about these things, and so 270 00:26:18.339 --> 00:26:22.490 we rest in him and therefore rest in God, our provider, and therefore 271 00:26:22.569 --> 00:26:29.210 we go to God when we need things. That is how we are content 272 00:26:29.569 --> 00:26:34.160 in the in in plenty and in one Jesus says, in Matthew Seven, 273 00:26:37.039 --> 00:26:38.720 he says, ask and it will be given to you, seek and you 274 00:26:38.759 --> 00:26:42.480 will find, knock and it will be open to you, for every one 275 00:26:42.519 --> 00:26:47.119 who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one 276 00:26:47.119 --> 00:26:49.829 who knocks it will be opened. or which one of you, if his 277 00:26:49.950 --> 00:26:55.710 son asks him for bread, will him will give him a stone or, 278 00:26:55.789 --> 00:27:00.750 if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you, 279 00:27:00.069 --> 00:27:03.539 then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your 280 00:27:03.579 --> 00:27:07.380 children. How much more will your father, who is in heaven, give 281 00:27:07.500 --> 00:27:14.740 good things to those who ask him? You see this so such plain and 282 00:27:14.980 --> 00:27:19.490 simple truths here. God knows what you need, and so ask him for 283 00:27:19.650 --> 00:27:26.890 it. Will he give you a snake when you've asked him for bread? 284 00:27:26.849 --> 00:27:32.960 Of course not. He will supply for all your needs. You have any 285 00:27:33.000 --> 00:27:37.920 doubt about it, look to Jesus Christ, who has already given you numerous 286 00:27:37.039 --> 00:27:45.029 blessings and promises eternal blessings, both physical and spiritual, to come. Do 287 00:27:45.150 --> 00:27:52.109 you need things, then depend on him who knows your need. Do not 288 00:27:52.269 --> 00:27:57.029 just wait for something to happen, for fate to run its course, but 289 00:27:57.230 --> 00:28:02.900 trust in the God who has provided you a savior. Don't depend on fate 290 00:28:03.019 --> 00:28:07.819 or magic or wealth, but depend on God, because if you belong to 291 00:28:07.859 --> 00:28:12.250 Christ, if you are therefore God's son, then you belong to the Great 292 00:28:12.289 --> 00:28:17.329 God and provider of all things, and he'll give you everything that you need. 293 00:28:18.809 --> 00:28:26.210 He'll even see to your needs beyond your perceptions of your needs, so 294 00:28:26.369 --> 00:28:30.039 that that which he gives in this life, whether he gives you plenty or 295 00:28:30.119 --> 00:28:37.079 whether he gives you want, he gives you these things in preparation for eternity, 296 00:28:37.920 --> 00:28:44.029 find Christ and your place in him, and you will have found the 297 00:28:44.269 --> 00:28:49.029 secret to contentment. Amen. Let us pray.