Grace Baptist Church of Arlington

Are you content?  During the last two classes of our discipleship hour we have focused on contentment as we came upon Philippians 4:11 in our study through that book: “Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content.”

We started by defining “content.”  I like a definition from a very old book, The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment.  “Christian contentment is that sweet, inward, quiet, gracious frame of spirit, which freely submits to and delights in God’s wise and fatherly disposal in every condition” (p.19).  Where does this contentment come from?  It is both a result of God’s work in our heart and something we need to work at.  We discussed that tension when we were looking at Philippians 2:12b-13, too, “work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.”

We discussed in some detail the means of grace and working hard at studying, memorizing, meditating on, and analyzing scripture.  We talked about “setting our minds on things that are above” (Col. 3:1-2), and thinking about what is true, honorable, just, pure, lovely, commendable, excellent, and praiseworthy (Phil. 4:8).  As Martin-Lloyd Jones wrote, “God is most likely to bless the indirect approach [of study] rather than the direct [only asking Him directly].  It is exactly the same in this manner of power and ability to live the Christian life” (Spiritual Depression, p. 298-299).  The prince of preachers, Charles Spurgeon, said something similar, “contentment,” he said, “is one of the flowers of heaven, and if we would have it, it must be cultivated” (“Contentment,” 3/25/1860).

John MacArthur, in his commentary on Philippians, noted five principles of contentment.  If you struggle with contentment, then you may want to hone in on scripture that addresses these principles:

1) Trust God’s providence and grace (Rom. 8:28),
2) Be satisfied with little (1 Tim. 6:8),
3) Remember your joy is separate from your circumstances (Rom. 8:18),
4) Rely on God for divine power (Phil. 4:6-7), and,
5) On a practical note, help others (Phil. 2:4).

We ended our by last class noting just how important it is for us to learn to live “in abundance” as the wealthy (and if you live in America you are probably wealthy when grading on a world-wide scale).  Spurgeon warned those who lived in abundance as follows:

“When men have too much of God’s mercies—strange that we should have to say this, and yet it is a great fact—when men have much of God’s providential mercies, it often happens that they have but little of God’s grace, and little gratitude for the bounties they have received. They are full, and they forget God; satisfied with earth, they are content to do without heaven. Rest assured, my dear hearers, it is harder to know how to be full than it is to know how to be hungry. To know how to be hungry is a sharp lesson, but to know how to be full is the harder lesson after all. So desperate is the tendency of human nature to pride and forgetfulness of God! As soon as ever we have a double stock of manna, and begin to hoard it, it breeds worms and becomes a stench in the nostrils of God. Take care that you ask in your prayers that God would teach you how to be full.” (“Contentment,” 3/25/1860).

May we all trust in Christ and cultivate contentment this week.

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