Finding Joy and Contentment in Every Circumstance

You know what? Today, it's great to have fun in God's house, isn't it?

I mean, there's joy in the Lord. In fact, we're going to see,

that's important because the very first little part of the sentence there that

Paul shares with us today is, but I rejoice to the Lord greatly.

Come on, I'm just saying. But let me say this to y'all today.

Have you ever found the fact that today in the world that we live in with everything

that is so instant, right?

You know, instant oatmeal, instant this. I mean, the microwave.

Who could not do without a microwave?

Right I mean microwave popcorn I mean it's hard

to mess it up although my dad did confess years

ago to doing that he was down at the Navy base where

he used to work and ground electronics and radar and all that weather equipment

and stuff and he he was telling me he tried to do a bag of popcorn he put it

in the microwave and I don't know how he did it y'all but he ended up the bag

caught on fire he put it in that wall okay and it stuck up the whole place and

he got it cleaned up as fast as he could,

you know, obviously with all the smoke and stuff he was telling me about.

And then afterward, he was so embarrassed, but nobody was there at the time.

But they came in shortly after it in the back part, and everybody was saying, what is that odor?

What is that? What did somebody do back here? You know, what's going on?

And he just said, I just stayed quiet. I felt so embarrassed,

and I just never said what.

But seriously, the microwave, you know, you can do popcorn. I can do popcorn.

In fact, I used to have a book, you know. It was like this cardboard where you

can wipe it off, kind of like the kids' books used to be the thick cardboard.

It's called A Man, a Plant, a Can.

Okay? And that's where a survival guide, you know, in case you,

you know, with all this, it's just recipes you can do with a can.

So I'm just saying we like it fast. We like it quick, right?

But how many of us today, if we ask ourselves this question, do I have contentment?

How often am I discontented?

Because, you know, a lot of times we don't catch ourselves, but what most of

the time do we do without realizing it?

Complaining, right? It's complaining or saying, hey, you know,

I wish it was this way or that way, or man, if I just had this job,

or if I just had this amount of money, or if I could just do that,

or if they would just do this or that, why don't they?

You know, and we don't realize how often in our lives, and I'm speaking to me,

you, all of us, that discontentment is like on display.

But here today in this passage, as we consider Paul's words in these verses.

And so often with this letter we've discovered, we need to remember that his

circumstances are anything but good, right? Again, where is he?

Right, he's in prison, right, in Rome. In fact, he's in prison in Rome.

He's chained to the elite Roman guards who serve in Caesar's household.

He's awaiting trial before Caesar with his own life at stake.

He's confined under house arrest and unable to move about with freedom.

And as far, you know, for being an active guy, he's being shut up under house

arrest and changed for two years, must have made him feel like a caged lion held against his will.

I mean, some of us go stir crazy of just being in the house for two days, right?

I mean, just think about his situation. To make matters worse,

the local pastors in Rome, if you remember, have become so envious of Paul's

giftedness that they have resorted to a smear campaign against Paul.

His reputation has come under attack as he's now held captive.

And to add insult to injury, man, he is forced to pay his own rent for his house arrest.

That's found in Acts 28, verse 30, talking about that. But when the church at

Acts 28:30

Philippi received word of his desperate plight, what did they do?

They took up a gift to pay for Paul's imprisonment, to help him with that.

They gave it to a guy that we talked about a while back, Epaphroditus, to bring to him in Rome.

But this man sent to minister to him had, as we've seen, become sick on his way. Remember that?

Almost to the point of what? Death.

And whatever could go wrong, in other words, appears to have gone wrong.

However, Paul actually writes this letter as he writes it.

His words have the vibrant tone, if you notice, of a man that's sitting in a palace, not a prison.

The apostle is not defeated in spirit, but instead he's triumphant.

He's joyful, a joyful man who rather than needing to be encouraged, he's lifting up others.

Paul writes to express his gratitude here for the generosity of the Philippians

and ministering to his knees.

And here's what it looks like, if you want to know, for a believer to live above

his circumstances and not under them, right?

Now, let me just throw this out here this morning. What does a thermometer do?

Right, it tells you the temperature, right? And so basically a thermometer Basically

is just a reflection Of what's going on right That's kind of like the circumstances,

Whatever the circumstances happen to be at the moment It's a reflection of that,

So if things are going really well It's going to show that If things are going

poorly It's going to show that But what does the thermostat do?

Right. Or it has the ability to respond,

right, to change or at least change the way that we think in light of God's

sovereignty, in light of what God has blessed us with, to where our attitude,

it becomes contentment instead of discontentment.

And so I just kind of think of it today. What would you rather be?

Would you rather be like a thermometer who's always reacting and knee-jerking

and all that to life circumstances and things in your life and being discontented,

or would you rather be like that thermostat who responds and turns up the gratitude maybe,

turns up the thankful heart,

turns up the joy in the Lord like Paul did here.

Paul's a man who is content despite his circumstances rather than being crushed by them.

He is content, and this is not some kind of fake mumbo jumbo,

okay? This is true contentment found only in the Lord because here we're seeing

on this first slide here, Paul's celebration.

Paul is celebrating, y'all. Though Paul is in prison in Rome,

an unsuspecting reader, like I said, of this letter wouldn't know it.

I believe MacArthur points this out. I wrote this down, but he said,

his situation was extremely difficult.

Though it was extremely difficult, Paul was not discontent.

He said, it did not matter that he was a prisoner living in a small apartment

chained to a Roman soldier.

You know, he was existing on a sparse diet, he said none of that affected his

commitment or his contentment, right?

None of it. In fact, Paul writes this, look at verse 10 again,

but I rejoiced in the Lord greatly.

Does that sound like a guy who's having a pity party? Does that sound like a

guy who is just complaining?

Man, I look at, I always think, You know, November, we have what we call Thanksgiving, right?

And I always think about it, and this is not by any, you know,

planned thing that we're on this passage today, but it's nice to know as we

come into this season that every day ought to be a Thanksgiving day.

And this is what Paul's doing. He's rejoicing in the Lord. He doesn't lament

his position, but instead is a man full of joy, real joy.

And we've noted this earlier, but a great difference exists between happiness and joy.

Happiness is dependent upon your happenings,

In other words, it's dependent upon what is happening in your life Now,

I promise you this past week All of us represented here today have had many

different happenings in our lives, right?

And that's what happiness is dependent upon, the happenings in your life.

However, genuine joy is not dictated by your changing circumstances or mine.

Genuine joy, as we see, is found in the unchangeable Lord.

That's why we can have joy, y'all. Our God is unchangeable. Our God is there.

He is with us. In fact, when Paul states here, I rejoiced in the Lord greatly,

He's saying that the Lord is the source.

The Lord is the sphere, if you will, of his joy. He's rejoicing in the greatness

of the Lord's all-wise providence in his own life.

He's rejoicing in God's all-sufficient provision for him.

He knows that God, by the way, we got to hold on to this, church.

He knows that God is causing all things to work together for good.

Y'all, even his imprisonment, he knows it.

Romans 8, 28, that great verse. Listen, the life's affairs are always changing.

All this is changing around us.

The eternal purposes of Almighty God never change.

Are we a content people with what God has blessed us with?

Are we content with what? Yes, we may not look.

Look, we may not like the fact or may would prefer like maybe this isn't happening

in my life right now, whether it's like maybe a loved one that's sick or whatever

the case may be, or a number of things.

It could be a job that has gone awry or something bad happening in our circumstances

or just not what we would prefer, not what we would love to see.

But you know what? With Paul here, we can still be content in whatever the state

is because we rejoice in the Lord, not in our circumstances,

not in our happenings. We rejoice in him.

Paul realizes that he is in chains, y'all. This is so important.

He is in chains by divine appointment.

And because of that, he has every reason to rejoice. I think we forget sometimes,

and I'm saying all of us, that God is sovereign.

God is in control. You're not in control. I'm not in control.

No, the leaders of our government are not in control.

God is the one who calls the shots. God is the one who raises up leaders and

he's the one that says in scripture that takes them down.

And I want you to know that does not negate our responsibility to respond to

God's word and our responsibility to vote.

And I always, I've been challenging this, pray, think, vote.

Because if you don't, you are not fulfilling your Christian obligation,

right? What God would have you to do if you don't vote.

There's no getting to get out a free card, right? We vote the convictions that

we have according to the principles of the word of God.

And guess what? but this falls in line with our passage here because Paul is

trusting in God's sovereign will to take place.

It's our responsibility to do what God has called us to do, but God is the one

who's ultimately in control.

And I promise you, whatever happens on Tuesday will not shake him off his throne.

It will be a part of his plan, no matter what it is.

And this joy that Paul is experiencing is not derived from this world. but it comes from whom?

God. Joy comes down from above, from the throne of grace.

Paul here had always wanted to go to Rome and preach the gospel,

Brother Aaron. I mean, this had been his dream, right?

He wanted to go. He had just never envisioned that it would be under these circumstances,

under house arrest, right?

He's gone through arrest, trial, shipwreck, and now he's confined,

sitting in this prison, right?

And yet he still greatly rejoices.

This is not simply a little joy that he has, but joy that has an abundant supply.

Paul rejoices again, verse 10, he says that now at last you have revived your concern for me.

Now think about who he's talking about, right?

The church in Philippi, right? Who had sent the financial gift to help.

And here he gives some insight as to what has triggered this joy.

He's grateful that God has met his needs through the generosity of the Philippians.

Paul knows that God is working in them and their ministry to him.

In other words, he knows that God is at work for his good pleasure in these

brothers and sisters. He talks about that in verse 13 of chapter two even.

In fact, it is God who has, he says, revived this concern for him and them,

this desire to help him. And Paul is certain that this is actually the result

of God at work in their lives.

And so to review just quickly here, Paul first came to Philippi 10 years earlier at that church, right?

It was a full decade prior to Acts chapter 16, or it talks about in Acts chapter

Acts 16 · chapter mention Acts 16 · chapter mention

16, I should say, a whole decade prior. When Paul was there,

he preached the gospel in Philippi. He won souls to Christ.

He planted a church, if you remember. And when Paul left town,

he traveled to Athens and then to Corinth.

They continued to give support to Paul for his ministry.

And of course, in Scripture, as we look, there's no record of their involvement

with him in the years that followed that, though.

And after many years, as we see here in this passage, they have revived their

concern for him, as he said.

And the reference here is To the financial gift Like I said That they sent It's

mentioned in Philippians 4.18 Revive.

That anathalo in Greek, it's a horticultural term that was used to describe

a plant that had been blossoming.

You probably had some of these. And then it went dormant for the winter, right?

But then it sprouted new green growth at springtime.

And so it was in Paul's relationship with the Philippians here,

what he's saying, they had, it seems, been a long winter in their relationship.

There's been a long time that he hasn't really heard from them, right?

But now they've re-sprouted, if you will.

They've revived in their concern for him, in other words, and therefore their

generosity to help him in giving to him to meet his needs.

So Paul explains there, if you look back at verse 10, you were concerned before,

but you lacked what? Opportunity.

So this looks back to a time after their initial support when they,

Paul generously assumes, I think here, lacked the means to continue to support him.

And Paul had expressed his gratitude in a gracious manner in this verse because

he doesn't want it to appear at all to be unthankful for the time that they did not support him.

He does not want to question why

their support had been withheld for that season or why it was that way.

And perhaps the reason remained, you know, unstated here to shield the Philippians,

and we don't know from public embarrassment. We just don't know that,

but maybe they were just without the financial resources necessary to do so.

Maybe they didn't have a way to send the money to him.

Do y'all remember how far away it was?

What?

Yeah, it was like 800 miles. Wow. I mean, maybe they just, were political hindrances

even that prevented a gift from going to him.

We don't know what caused the lack of opportunity.

But Paul's attitude, this is what I want us to see today.

Paul's attitude here is an example to all of us, every Christian.

We gotta think of it this way, church. Let us not be dependent upon our happenings

for our joy, but rejoice in the Lord and be quick to see his hand at work for our good. Thank you.

And y'all want you to think, ask the Holy Spirit to remind you,

whenever you utter that phrase or those words of discontentment,

why don't you have it? Where's the joy of the Lord in our lives?

You know, as I saw, we sang earlier, I will enter his gates with thanksgiving

in my heart. His courts will praise.

You see, when we lose sight of the cross and what God has done for us and God's

sovereign will in our lives, we lose joy.

And we got to assume the best. Let us assume the best about our Christian brothers and sisters.

All our joy comes from who again? God. Our joy abounds in fellowship with his people.

You know, a lot of times, I don't know about you, but I've taught myself sometimes

in the past, it's almost like, you know, well, they just made me in a bad mood

today, what they did. Really?

Uh-uh. Well, last time I checked, we choose what mood we're going to be in.

Somebody don't have that kind of power over me or you, right?

The reason sometimes we're in

that bad mood is because we've chosen to go down the road of discontent.

We've chosen to go down the road of selfishness, right?

And you see, we have to realize who our joy is found in.

And we got to look to him for there's not one drop, y'all, not one drop of true

joy to be found in this world.

It's all fleeting. It's all passing. But as we talk about this,

it's kind of shorter today.

Y'all saying, yeah, come on, Brother Joe. But Paul's contentment here.

We got to wrap up with this. Paul's contentment.

But still, you might ask, well, how can Paul actually be rejoicing in the midst of imprisonment?

How can he know the gladness while being unjustly treated as a common criminal, right?

Well, the answer is found in what follows. Look at verse 11, Philippians 4, 11.

Not that I speak from want, for I have learned to be what?

Content in whatever circumstances I am in.

Now, that just right there, Eastwood, can you say that with an honest heart?

I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am in.

Man, that's a staggering statement for Paul to make, given where he is and what he's suffering.

Paul can say what in this verse? All my needs are met.

Not that I speak from want. You see what he's saying there? For I have learned.

That's the key, church. I have learned. We got to stop right there for a moment

because what Paul learned is what you and I must learn, right?

Paul did not learn this sitting at the feet of the great teachers like Emilio,

the rabbi who schooled him in Judaism.

He didn't learn this by receiving one of the greatest educations in that part

of the known world. He didn't learn this as a Pharisee of the Pharisees, did he?

This is something here that he had to learn in the school of discipleship with Christ, right?

Discipleship with Christ. And as experience reveals here, this is usually learned,

y'all, not in times of prosperity, is it?

But in times of what? Adversity.

Adversity. You see, the true believer in times of true adversity is always driven

to God and his word and his promises, right?

The joy is found in Christ, the true believer.

But the false convert is always looking at his circumstances.

And when things get rough, when the flight gets bumpy, if my brother Ray likes

to share, then, you know, he wants to get out. He wants to throw that off.

But here we see that it's a valuable lesson that Paul has learned that we would do well to learn.

When Paul writes this, I have learned to be content in verse 11.

I have learned to be content.

That really speaks of a calm acceptance, Eastwood, of his present lot in life.

To be discontent here would mean that Paul wants to be somewhere else than where

the sovereign hand of God has placed him at this time.

Do we trust God like that? That we're content with where God puts us in life,

with what he allows to happen to us in our life and our loved ones in our life?

That we trust him and have joy in him, knowing that he's working it all out

for our good and his glory?

Or do we want it to be some way else or somewhere else than where God has placed

us and to have more than the sovereign hand of God has chosen to give.

You see, to be content is to have a peaceful acceptance of where God has providentially placed him.

This word here, content of tartes, it was used of a country.

Think about this for a moment. A country that had everything it needed.

In other words, it was self-sufficient, where everything, nothing needed to

be imported, in other words.

And such a country had all the resources, all the natural products needed to be self-sufficient.

Nothing else was needed from the outside, in other words.

Of course, here Paul's not saying that he is self-sufficient in himself, is he?

Rather, he is abundantly, church, sufficient in the resources of who?

God. He has need of nothing else but what God gives him.

Nothing needs to be, in other words, imported from the outside into his life.

There's nothing lacking from the ample supply provided by Christ living within Paul.

Paul has everything, everything that he needs in the fullness of his Savior, the Lord.

Y'all, you and I do too. No matter what the situation is, Paul has learned to be content.

He is independent of anything extern.

No outside is necessary. No outside aid is necessary for his Christian life.

That's a remarkable statement on the all-sufficiency found in Jesus.

He's our all-in-all church.

He is the one who satisfies our every need, our every longing.

And that is the secret Paul shares with us today of true contentment.

And I have to ask you today, is that where your heart is today?

Is that where my heart is today? Are we content with what God is doing in our lives?

In the sense that we're not complaining to the point of this brutalness in our

hearts and like, man, if, you know, I just can't get ahead, it's always, no,

it's like, Lord, I rejoice in you and what you've done in my life,

Lord. I can trust your hand of provision.

You will meet my needs. I left nothing and I trust you with it all.

Y'all, that is joy. When you can have this kind of joy, you know where it comes

from, right? You know who's supplying it.