Leverage Point #13 - Paul's Secret to Contentment: Philippians 4:9-23 - Philippians: Joy Leverage

You're listening to the road with Pastor Teacher Steve Holt.

Most of us did not grow up in families where there was a lot of joy.

Many of us grew up in families where there was a lot of fighting, arguing, maybe even physical violence.

And so, for the Jesus follower, for the wholehearted disciple, we have to literally renew our minds to rejoice.

You know, you've heard the phrase from me many times.

Make a choice to rejoice.

You have to make that choice to rejoice to find contempt.

At The Road, our vision is to raise up wholehearted disciples of Jesus Christ.

For more information on The Road, visit theroad.org.

We hope you are encouraged by today's message from Pastor Teacher Steve Holt.

How many of you get catalogs?

Oh, come on.

Are you kidding me?

If you order anything online, you're gonna get a catalog, about 10 catalogs that go with it.

We live in such a culture of lack of contentment, don't we?

I mean, you're just getting bombarded constantly with information about things that you didn't know that you even needed.

I like the before and after photos.

You know, she was 4'11 and weighed 750 pounds.

And then she took these supplements and she's six foot four and looks like Barbie.

What's worse is that now they've got some way they can they can know my age.

Maybe because of things that I order.

So now I get stuff about being like 70.

And those dudes look like the Hulk.

They got these guys just flexing and everything, and they're like 70, and they look like they're 25.

And it's just a it's just a bottle.

All you need is this bottle of this supplement.

And so it's constantly bombarded with this feeling like you're you don't have enough.

And I know when I was a kid, and then I remember growing up in my 20s and 30s, it seems like it was more about stuff.

Like having a nicer house or having a nicer car and all that, and that's still out there.

But now it's about your person.

I mean, you can inject stuff into your face and all the wrinkles just go away.

Did you know that?

You can inject botulism into your face and you can look 20 years younger.

Did you know that?

And you can lift a lot of things.

I want you to know at the row.

Everybody look at me.

I like you the way you are.

It makes me feel better about myself.

Hey, every every one of these wrinkles were earned.

I earned every one of these wrinkles.

I'm proud of my wrinkles.

I had seven kids.

I'm proud of every bit of this gray hair.

I earned it.

I'm a man of God and a father.

I earned every gray hair I have, and I'm not gonna cover it up.

Just be, just be who God made you to be.

I mean, that's really the message of David, is that he was a man after God's own heart, and it's actually that great passage where Samuel comes to, and we're gonna talk more about this next week.

I'm gonna start a series on worshipper warrior next week.

But Samuel comes to Bethlehem to anoint this new king of Israel, and he's for sure it's Eliab, who's the tallest and most handsome in the family.

And even David's dad doesn't even remember that he's got a son out in the fields when Samuel says he wants to pray for the family.

He's the youngest son.

And what does it say?

God doesn't look at the outward appearance, but he looks at the heart.

And so, many women, my prayer almost, if I remember, and if it's on my heart, but it definitely was this morning, that at the road you'd be hungry and thirsty for God.

You'd come hungry and thirsty for him, because God's developing the heart.

He's not as interested in the outward appearance as you think he is, and he's interested in our heart.

And that is what he anoints.

And that's where he comes with his power and his intimacy.

So I want to talk about contentment.

Today it's the we're we're ending up Philippians, and if you have your Bibles, and by the way, you may notice that now we have Bibles in front of you.

About every other seat or so, there's a Bible, so if you didn't bring a Bible, you can borrow those.

They're right there in the seats, and if you don't have one at all and you want to take our Bible, you can have it.

But we have New Kings James Version Bibles right there in the seats in front of you.

And I want to talk about the secret to contentment as we close out Philippians.

Man, what a great study this has been.

16 times.

You can go online and listen to all the messages, all been on joy.

And I think the secret to the joy of Paul's life was this contentment that he had.

And it's really hard to find, isn't it?

I mean, isn't it hard to be content?

It's really hard to be content with what you have, how tall or short you are, maybe the vehicle you drive, your weight, your job, your position in your job, we're never satisfied.

And Satan uses that.

I mean, discontent causes a multitude of sins in our life.

Because we start pursuing stuff, it gets us in trouble.

But I want you to look at Paul because it may be that as we look at this last part of Philippians about contentment, that contentment as you and I may have thought about it, isn't exactly what Paul is defining as contentment.

So look at verse 9, because I think this is a great launching pad into the last part of the pericope of Philippians.

The things which you've learned and received and heard and seen in me, these do, and the God of peace will be with you.

So Paul's saying, look at my life.

I'm an example.

I'm, in a sense, he's saying, I'm proud of walking in the presence of God in my life and the character that I have.

Emulate me.

Be willing to emulate me.

He said it to Timothy.

In first and second Timothy, he says, emulate me.

He says, copy me.

What you've seen in me, copy.

And I was reading this and I was thinking about Don Hewlin.

Many of you know Don here, and Don's had cancer.

And the joy that he's exhibited through his cancer treatment is phenomenal.

Wasn't healed supernaturally, getting healed naturally and scientifically and medically.

I don't care how it comes, right?

All truth is God's truth.

Thank you, Don.

For being content pursuing healing.

We prayed for you up here for healing.

Didn't come supernaturally, but you went through the treatment with joy.

And Billy Bougar, with Billy here.

Where's Billy?

Billy's back there.

Billy, same thing.

We prayed for Billy.

Healing didn't come.

And she has been joyful.

She has been steadfast.

She has been.

I mean, I don't know what happens at home.

I mean, we all have our ups and downs, but I can just tell you, Billy, you've you've lived it before us, contentment.

Love that.

Appreciate that about you.

Jan Matthias, where's Jan?

Jan lost her leg.

Had her leg amputated.

She comes wheeling up here a couple weeks ago.

She says, watch this.

And she gets out of her wheelchair and she just starts walking with her prothesis.

I mean, she's just moving.

Contentment.

Thank you, Jan.

Thank you for your contentment.

Thank you for your passion for God.

But I rejoiced in the Lord, verse 10, greatly.

I rejoice in the Lord greatly that now at last your care for me has flourished again.

Remember, he's in prison.

Though you surely did care, but you lacked opportunity.

Not that I speak in regard to need.

For I have learned, in whatever state I am, to be content.

I know how to be abased.

I know how to abound everywhere and in all things.

I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need.

Now this is the same guy that wrote in chapter 3, verse 12.

Go to chapter 3, verse 12, and see what Paul said earlier in his letter.

Not that I've already attained or am already perfected, but I press on that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me.

Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead.

I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

Therefore, let all of you, as many as are mature, have this mind.

So here's what I would say: He's content, but he's contending.

Okay, Paul is content in his circumstances, but he's contending in his heart.

Really important.

He's not talking about being content in his knowledge of God.

He's going for more.

I want to know more of the, what did he say, the fellowship of his suffering and the power of his resurrection.

He wants more, but he's content in the circumstances that, listen to this, it's important.

He's content in the circumstances he's in to contend for what he really longs for.

In other words, men and women, sometimes when you have to contend for something, it's going to cost you a lot.

It's going to cost you something.

There's always a sacrifice involved in the treasure.

Some of you have given a lot.

You have lost a lot in the maybe physical or even financial arena.

Some of you guys that are at SAFA at the school here, you gave up opportunities and jobs to come out here to learn and to grow in fasting and prayer with the call.

Some of you have lost your jobs because you're going after God.

Some of you are missing out on the next part of the anointing that God has in your life because you're not willing yet to take that step of faith to surrender it all to Christ.

It's always a sacrifice.

Content but contending.

I remember, like Liz and I, we we had a great income.

We had raised all this support for 10 years with Campus Crusade.

We're in Okinawa, Japan.

And God messes everything up.

And he speaks to us to resign and come back to California, go to seminary.

So I have to tell my supporters.

I've got over a hundred supporters.

I've got over nine or ten thousand dollars a month coming in as a missionary.

We're living in the most expensive nation in the world at that time in the 80s, which was Japan.

And suddenly everything just, there's nothing.

We have no funds, nothing.

And I'm going to go to seminary.

Which at that time was over 30,000.

Um, and this is in 91.

But you know what?

Liz and I heard from God, and I do not remember Liz and I ever being all that worried about it.

We were content to go from what we had to nothing because we heard the voice of God about where he wanted to take us, which was which was gonna be deeper, more magnificent, more powerful, and more exciting than anything we'd ever known before.

And it just seemed like a small, dinky little sacrifice.

I mean, it really did.

It didn't seem like that big of a deal.

I mean, I remember a few times you're like, ah, I guess I'll start coaching gymnastics or something like that.

I don't know what I'm gonna do.

Then we found out.

Some of you know the story, then we found out some investments that I had made in college, I invested in stocks, had, I love Jimmy Carter.

President Carter was awesome for the economy.

For people who dropped their money into CDs at 18% interest.

So God took care of all of our seminary during those years.

Then we get offered a lucrative job in Southern California, but we've heard from God to go plant Mountain Springs Church in Colorado Springs.

So again, we did it again.

Here's what I'm saying.

When God speaks to you about something, there's usually going to be a test.

That's how you get a test moy.

There's gonna be a test for your moy.

And when that moy matches up with the test, you find contentment.

Paul found contentment.

He's learned, he knows he's called to reach the Gentiles for Christ.

The reason he's writing the church in Philippi, he's learned it.

It has to be learned.

It's not an elective, it's actually a mandatory course in our walk with God.

There's actually a contentment 101 and a contentment 102.

And that is one of the greatest places any of us can come.

Because, I mean, we look at Don and we and we look at Billy and Jan.

I mean, not healed.

I wish Jan's leg was just healed.

We prayed diligently for Don and Billy to be healed.

Didn't happen.

Some of you have been healed of cancer.

We've had several incredible healings here, but some of you haven't.

But we're not God.

He is.

And he's working contentment through that.

So what are the secrets?

I just, I mean, I'm reading this and going, man, what are the secrets to Paul's contentment?

And I think one of the things is that he had a joyful spirit.

He had a rejoicing spirit.

Look at verse 10.

I rejoiced in the Lord greatly.

Look at verse 4.

Rejoice in the Lord always.

There it says, when we find contentment, and I believe rejoicing creates contentment in our life, we can learn to rejoice.

We rejoice in whatever the circumstances are, we learn to have a joyful heart, a rejoicing spirit.

Most of us did not grow up in families where there was a lot of joy.

Many of us grew up in families where there was a lot of fighting, arguing, screaming, maybe even physical violence.

And so for the Jesus follower, for the wholehearted disciple, we have to literally renew our minds to rejoice.

You know, you've heard the phrase from me many times make a choice to rejoice.

You have to make that choice to rejoice, to find contentment.

If you do not have a rejoicing spirit, you will not have contentment.

Because as a general rule, life doesn't go our way.

It just doesn't.

Life does not go your way.

It does not line up.

Man, I just, I love to listen to positive speakers, to motivational speakers, and they, man, they get me pumped up and I'm all excited, and I know I can make a million dollars in a day after I listen to them and all that stuff.

I mean, you know, I know how to name it and claim it and dance around it.

But at the end of the day, it usually doesn't work that way.

But learning to rejoice in the Lord always, not in your circumstances.

I don't expect Don to be rejoicing in his cancer, though I believe he can.

I can say this in relation to this, that I'm so thankful now for what God did in my life in resigning at Mountain Springs and starting the road and the brokenness that I went through.

I do thank the Lord for that.

But he says, rejoice in the Lord.

We rejoice in his work in that circumstance.

Does that make sense?

It's beginning to look past just what's happening to how God is working.

I love James 1.

Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance.

Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature, complete, and not lacking in anything.

Have you realized that most often God does his greatest work through difficulties?

And you see, Paul had understood that whether he was abased or abounding, there's temptation with both, gang.

There's some of us that are so bitter because we don't have what we feel like we deserve.

And then there's others of us that struggle with arrogance and pride because everything's gone our way.

There's a battle on both sides to find contentment.

Now look at the next verse.

Look at verse 13, because this is probably the most misused and misunderstood verse in the Bible.

I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

Now here's the word Christ conquering faith.

Christ conquering faith.

This is one of those passages, like if you put in Philippians 4.13 when you get home today, you'll see more jocks with Philippians 4.13 tattooed on their biceps or their chest or wherever.

But they're everywhere.

They're kind of like, I call them kind of like, it's kind of like the spiritual rabbit foot verse of the Bible.

And you know, and it means I can do, I can do all things who strengthens me.

I can do all things who strengthens me.

I can get you guys really revved up with I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

That's not what it means.

It's not, listen, it's not about achievement.

Look at the context.

It's not about achievement.

It's actually about his attitude when he doesn't achieve.

It's about contentment.

It's not about achievement of something, but rather to allow Christ's power to sustain us in difficulty and scarcity, but also to enhance the enjoyment.

Of abundance and prosperity.

Let me read that again.

I'm taking notes on myself.

I thought this was a good sentence.

It's not about achievement of something, but rather to allow Christ power to sustain in difficulty and scarcity and enhance the enjoyment of abundance and prosperity.

I can find contentment in great defeat, scarcity, even poverty, as well as victorious abundance through Christ's power working in me.

That's what it means.

It means, men and women, whatever your circumstances, in poverty, in brokenness, in cancer, in divorce, Christ's power strengthens me.

But also in great abundance, and when things are going your way and there's healings and there's miracles, he gives me the enjoyment of that too.

Christ's power strengthens me.

Because things don't go our way a lot of times.

But Christ's power can strengthen you.

Or your marriage is not all that you had hoped it would be, but Christ can strengthen you.

Or you got that raise, and there's a part of you that just kind of wants to stick out your chest and see how great you are, and then you realize, well, Christ can strengthen me, and you realize that that's a gift from God.

That I rejoice in what he did.

But you know that great reward and great prosperity doesn't always last very long.

That if we continually say to ourselves, Christ strengthens me, poverty and scarcity oftentimes don't last all that long either.

It's amazing what happens when a man or a woman's heart is rejoicing in the Lord, finding strength in him, how creative you become.

How innovative you become.

Some of you are so creative and so innovative, but you've never surrendered everything to Christ.

You're still holding on to scarcity.

You're still holding on to what you can do.

Some of you here have gifts of healing, but you've never stepped out to pray for someone, and so you don't even know that it's there.

Some of you have gifts of administration, but you've never stepped out in that.

Some of you have gifts in art, some of you have gifts in music, some of you have gifts in the medical realm, some of you have gifts in engineering, but you've got to step out and say, Christ, strengthen me.

God, this is uncomfortable.

This is uncomfortable.

I don't know that I can do this.

You see, I don't think Paul signed up for what he got in the deal in Acts chapter 9 when he got apprehended by God.

Acts 9 · chapter mention

How would you like to be apprehended by God?

You had a vision, for three days you're blind, some dude you've never heard of and never seen before.