Let us turn again to God's words
turning to the epistle of Paul to the Philippians in Philippians
chapter 4 and reading verses 11, 12 and
13 Philippians 4 verse 11 Not that I speak in respect of want
for I have learned in whatsoever state I am therewith to be content
I know both how to be abased and I know how to abound. Everywhere
and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry,
both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through
Christ which strengtheneth me. I want to send, as we consider
these words for a while this morning, to say something with
regards to the learning of contentment the learning of contentment as
Paul says I have learned in whatever state I am therewith to be content
I know both how to be abased and I know how to abound everywhere
and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry
both to abound and to suffer need the learning then of contentment,
and it is a subject matter that can only be learned in the school
of the Lord Jesus. As he says in verse 13, I can
do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me. Contentment
is impossible to ourselves alone. It is that we can only come to
by the gracious enablings and help of Him who is mighty to
save His people. And so we think of the ministry
of the Lord Jesus and how He makes it quite clear in the course
of that ministry that He is the only one in whom we can find
true rest. I think of the gracious invitation
of the Gospel there at the end of Matthew 11. Take my yoke upon
you, He says, and learn of me. For I am meek and lowly in heart,
and ye shall find rest unto your souls. Learn of me. And in learning
of Christ we find rest, in learning of Christ we find that true Christian
contentment. And so, as we come to consider
these three verses that I've just read for a text, I divide
the matter, the subject matter, into some two parts. First of
all, to see that Christ himself is the source of our contentment
and then in the second place to say something with regards
to the circumstances in which we must know this contentment
to all the changing scenes of this mortal life. First of all
though to consider the source which as I say is the Lord Jesus
I have learned, says the Apostle, I have learned, in whatsoever
state I am, therewith to be content. It's the same Apostle, of course,
who's writing to Timothy, in that portion that we read at
the end of that first epistle, and he makes that statement at
verse 6, Godliness with contentment is great gain. And so we see
quite clearly from those words that there can be no real contentment
without godliness, as these two come together. Godliness with
contentment is great gain. No contentment without godliness,
but there can be no godliness without the Lord Jesus Christ.
Again, when Paul writes to Timothy in the third chapter of that
epistle, he says, without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh,
justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the
Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory. He defines what godliness is,
the mystery of godliness. And that it centers in the person
of the Lord Jesus, God, manifest in the flesh. And so we see clearly
enough there that there can be no godliness. except with those
who know the Lord Jesus and don't just know about the Lord Jesus,
but know Him in that intimate way, those who have faith in
Him, those who are trusting in Him. And as we know that Godliness,
so we can anticipate that He will bring us to that place of
true Christian contentment. Christian contentment then is
something that is altogether centered in the Lord Jesus Christ
himself. Where do we learn it? He's speaking
of something here to be learned. I have learned in whatsoever
state I am therewith to be content. Where do we learn it? We learn
it only from the Lord Jesus. And it's interesting to observe
the various verbs that we find him using here in verses 11 and
12. He says, I have learned. Twice
he says, I know. Then again he says, I am instructed. Here is something that this man
has had to come to terms with. It's not natural to him. It's
something that he's had to come to a right knowledge of. He's
had to be instructed in this Christian contentment. And of course we know that Christianity
is that we have to learn of God. It's not natural to us. It's a revelation from God. It
is written in the prophets, and they shall be all taught of God.
Every man therefore that hath heard and have learned of the
Father cometh unto me, says the Lord Jesus. And how does God
teach his people in this day of grace? Is it not the day of
the Holy Ghost, the dispensation of the Holy Spirit? John reminds
those children that he's writing to those young men, those fathers,
He reminds them how it is that they've come to any understanding
of the truth. It's because of the ministry
of the Holy Spirit. You have an unction, He says.
There in 1 John 2.20 you have an unction from the Holy One
and He knows all things. And again in verse 27 He says,
but the anointing, it's the same word, unction really. But the
anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye
need not that any man teach you. But as the same anointing teacheth
you of all things and is truth, and is no lie, even as it hath
taught you, ye shall abide in him. This is what the Spirit
teaches us, the necessity of abiding in the Lord Jesus Christ. Here then, we have that that
he's learned, as I said, in the school of Christ. And looking at the words that
we have here in the text, in verse 12, we have this verb,
instructed. What does he say? I am instructed
both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer
need. And the words, the verb that
we have to instruct literally means to initiate into mysteries. And surely this is a mysterious
way of life that he is speaking of, to be content when one is
full, when one is hungry. To be content when one is abounding
and also when one is suffering need, whatever be the circumstances
of our lives. To be those who are simply content,
it is a mystery. Oh, there is much that is mysterious
of course with regards to the religion of Jesus Christ. It's
already referred to those words in 1 Timothy 3, without controversy. There's no disputing this matter,
great is the mystery. of godliness, the mystery of
real religion. When we think of the person in
whom it all centers, Christ, and the mystery of his birth,
the incarnation, what a mystery is this? God was manifest in
the flesh. What a miracle is that of the
virgin birth, that the virgin should be with child. Our God contracted to a span
incomprehensibly made man, says Charles Wesley in the hymn. Oh,
what a mystery it is. And you see, there is a mystery
really in Christian contentment. There's a mystery in Christian
contentment. It's something that we have to
be taught. It's what the Lord has to instruct
us in. And we sang of it, didn't we,
just now, in that lovely hymn of John Berridge, 1128, as we
were singing those last two verses of that short hymn, really. What remarkable truth we have
there in verses 4 and 5. He says, Thou holy Ghost, who
dost reveal the secret things of grace, and knowest well the
Father's will, as his deep mind can trace. Disclose the heavenly
mysteries, and bring the gospel feast. Give gracious hearts and
opened eyes that we may see and taste." Is that how we come to
the Word of God? We want the Holy Ghost to come
and to and to teach us, to instruct us in the mysteries of the Gospel
and the mystery of this grace of Christian contentment. And how does God teach this?
It's not just a matter of us receiving instruction In our
minds, it's not just a question of an intellectual comprehension
of what he's talking about in these things, but it is something
that is altogether experimental. It's learnt in experience. Isn't
that what Paul reminds them previously in the chapter with regards to
himself? How did he learn these things?
Verse 9, he says, those things which he had both learnt and
received and heard and seen in me do, and the God of peace shall
be with you." Well, the Lord teaches His people. At the end
of the opening chapter, He reminds His Philippians from whence their
faith came. He says it is given unto you
in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on Him, faith
is the gift of God, but it's given not only to believe on
him but also to suffer for his sake, having the same conflict
which he saw in me and now here to be in me. Paul learned Christian
contentment in all the strange experiences that he had to endure
in the course of his life, in the course of his ministry. and it was the same with these
Philippians, that's what he's reminding them of. Here is that
then that he's learned, it's learned from Christ and Christ
teaches his people by the way not only in which he instructs
them in their mind but the way in which he deals with them in
the course of their lives and the circumstances that he brings
them into and delivers them from. And it's learned only from Christ.
So we must also recognize here that This contentment is learned by
the exercise of prayer. And he says that again in the
context. Previously at verse 6, "...be
careful for nothing, but in everything, by prayer and supplication with
thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God." Oh,
he says much here concerning what prayer is and what prayer
involves. He speaks of prayer, he speaks
of supplication, he speaks of requests, all different and various
types of praying, and he reminds us also of the importance of
thanksgivings. When we pray to God and God hears
and answers our prayers, Are we those who would be diligent
in seeking to acknowledge the goodness of God and expressing
our gratitude to Him that we have not prayed in vain, He has
heard and He has answered us in all our prayers? And when
we come to pray what do we do? We don't dictate to God. We don't
tell God what to do. We wait upon God. We acknowledge
the sovereignty of God. Oh, and there is a mystery in
all the ways of God. There's the mystery of providence.
Isn't God's providence to us a great mystery? When we're in circumstances that
are so difficult and so trying, and we can see no way through
those difficulties, and yet the Lord does bring His people through,
and then we look back and we can see the remarkable hand of
God in the minute details that we pass through, that all our
steps have been evidently ordered by that God who is good, too
wise to be mistaken, and too good to be unkind. We don't come then to God to
dictate to Him. We wait upon Him. We put our
requests to Him. We acknowledge that there is
a mystery, a mystery in His Providence, a mystery really in His will
for each and every one of us individually. And how can we find contentment
then in all the mystery of the Lord's dealings? Only as we're
brought to that place of submission. What is to govern us in all our
praying to God? We have to learn of that patterned
prayer that Christ himself taught his disciples. When you pray,
he says, sir, thy kingdom come, thy will be done in earth as
it is in heaven. All we have to come to that,
that we desire what we want in our lives is not what I will,
but what God wills. That's the spirit of submission.
That's the spirit really of the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, think
of the Lord Jesus and the course of His ministry. Here is one,
He is God and yet He is God manifest in the flesh, He is a man and
as a man He has a human will but in all His life that human
will is subject to the divine will. It's a mystery, isn't it? It's all mystery. This remarkable
person, Jesus of Nazareth He is never anything less than God
and yet He is truly a man and we have those words I know I
quote them many a time in Hebrews 5 we read of Him who in the days
of His flesh when He had offered up prayer and supplication with
strong crying and tears unto God who was able to save Him
and was heard in that he feared though he were a son yet learned
the obedience by the things that he suffered he is the eternal
son and yet as a man he learns by the things that he suffered
he is heard in that he feared and that fear there is speaking
really of his spirit of reverence and awe as a man when he comes
before his father and now we see it in his prayers When we
think of Him there in the Garden of Gethsemane and all the agonies
of His soul, all being in an agony we're told how He prays
more earnestly and His sweat is like drops of blood falling
to the ground, the intensity of the sufferings. And what is
the prayer that He prays? Oh my Father, if it be possible
let this cup pass from me, nevertheless, not my will. but thine be done."
This is the one, friends. This is the one that we have
to learn of. Even the Lord Jesus Christ and
His prayers. He doesn't come, does He, to
dictate to God. When we see Him in the state
of His humiliation, He is submissive. And this is the way in which
we learn contentment, when we're brought to acknowledge Him. and
to utter that simple petition, thy will be done in earth as
it is in heaven. O the Lord Jesus, there is the
source of contentment when we're brought to that that we learn
of Him. Take my yoke upon you and learn of me. It's a yoke
sometimes. It's not easy to bear that yoke, but he says his yoke
is easy, he's burned his light. We have to live the life of faith
to prove that. But let us, in the second place,
turn to this contentment in all the various changes of life,
because this is what Paul is really speaking of. As he says
at the end of verse 11, I have learned in whatsoever state I am, therewith
to be content." Mark those words, whatsoever state. Whatsoever
state, he says. Oh, this is the life of faith.
And it's a life that's full of changes. As we see in verse 12,
he goes on to speak of being abased, and yet abounding, of
being full, and yet hungry as having plenty and yet suffering
need that's what he says I know both how to be abased and I know
how to abound everywhere and in all things I am instructed
both to be full and to be hungry both to abound and to suffer
need what a strange course this is
and now of course Bunyan in that masterful way in the children's
progress, plots out that life of faith. Christian has entered,
but the straight gate is in the narrow way. Oh, but what a strange
life. How he brings it out time and
again in that remarkable book. And he says of the Christian
man, the Christian man is never long at ease. When one trial
he's gone, another nothing sees. Brought out of one difficulty.
And yet ere long, finding oneself in another difficulty. What a
strange life. But it's a life of faith. Doesn't
the psalmist in Psalm 55 and verse 19 remind us of the ungodly? What is their life? He says,
of them they have no changes. But of course, all peoples have
changes. Man is born under the trouble
as the sparks fly upward. We read in the book of Job. But
there is truth in that statement of the Psalmist concerning the
ungodly in comparison with the godless. The Godly know changes that those
who know not God are altogether ignorant of. Because they have
no changes, it says, therefore they fear not God. Or what do
the ungodly know of the fear of the Lord? But again, as we
learn contentment in the experiences of life, so In those experiences
we learn something also of the fear of the Lord. Or there is
that that is so paradoxical in the life of the Christian. And
Paul is such a pattern of that. Is he not a pattern to them which
should hereafter believe as he says there in the opening chapter
of that first epistle to Timothy. And what a pattern he is, a paradox. 2nd Corinthians 6 verse 9 as
unknown and yet well known as dying and behold we live as chastened
and not killed and yet in all these experiences to know something
of that true contentment not that I speak in respect of
want he says for I have learned in whatever state I am therewith
to be content." Content in the lows, the low places of the
life of faith. He speaks of abasement. I know how to be abased. and we know how this man Paul
was treated with with indignity and contempt how he has to deal
with opposition there were those false teachers and how they crept
in to a church such as that highly gifted church at Corrie and Paul
speaks of them, doesn't he? and his opposition to them and
compares himself and his ministry to their ministry, there in chapter
11. Chapter 11 in the second epistle
to the Corinthians. Verse 23 he says, or asks the
question concerning these men, Are they ministers of Christ?
I speak as a fool. I am more, in labours more abundant,
in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequent, in deaths
oft. And so we get this catalogue
of the Jews. Five times received I forty stripes,
save one. Thrice was I beaten with rods.
Once was I stoned. Thrice I suffered shipwreck. A night and a day. I've been
in the deep, in journeyings often, in perils of waters, in perils
of rubbers, in perils by mine own countrymen, in perils by
the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness,
in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren, in weariness,
in painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst,
in fastings often, in cold and nakedness. He's forced to say
these things in order to answer these false teachers. How he
suffered, how those at Corinth, and he was so instrumental in
establishing the church there, was through his ministry that
the people were called by grace and gathered together in a local
church and yet they turn against him and so he must he must answer
these evil men, these false apostles again it's there throughout that
epistle so acute was the problem for this man he says in chapter 4 verse 8
we're troubled on every side yet not distress. We are perplexed
but not in despair, persecuted but not forsaken, cast down but
not destroyed, always bearing about in the body the dying of
the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest
in our body." This is his great concern, his relationship with
Christ, his standing in Christ. What does it matter if he suffers
at the hands of men? What matter if he has to endure
all this rejection of men. He's content. Why? Because of that relationship
that he has with Christ and his faith in Christ. How he has committed
all into the hands of his gracious Saviour. Look at what he says
again here in this twelfth verse. He speaks of suffering need. Everywhere and in all things
I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound
and to suffer need. Literally, and to come short. That's what he says. And to come
short. Even coming short of the very
necessities of life. That's what he is saying. He
has learned to come short even of those necessities. And it's
no surprise really because what is the life of the Christian?
The life of a Christian is to be that life of self-denial.
Coming short. doesn't the Lord Jesus himself
tell us as much if any man will come after me he says let him
deny himself and take up his cross and follow me that's the
calling of the Christian it's a life of denying self it's no
easy path it's no easy path all but it's coming to that remarkable
knowledge, that experimental knowledge of Christ, knowing
Christ, not just in the head, but in the experiences of the
soul, something real. Again, the word that we have
here in verse 12 where he speaks of being abased, we're thinking
of his abasement. I know both how to be abased. Now, it is exactly the same word
that is used in chapter 2 at verse 8. Remember in that
second chapter here we have that remarkable passage in which he
speaks of the Lord Jesus and his humility. And what does he
say there in chapter 2 and verse 8? Being found in fashion as
a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even
the death of the cross. Think of the man Christ Jesus.
What is the great mark of his life? Humility. That's what Paul is saying in
that chapter. Let this mind be in you, which
was also in Christ Jesus. who, being in the form of God,
thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but made himself
of no reputation, took upon him the form of a servant, and was
made in the likeness of men. He is God, and yet he humbles
himself to become man. He's the God-man, being found
in fashion as a man. He humbled himself. There's that
word, you see. It's the same word as we have
here at the beginning of verse 12. to be abased, to be humbled. It's following in the footsteps
of the Lord Jesus. And that's what brings the contentment. It's knowing Christ. It's knowing
Christ. And what does Paul say? That
I may know Him and the power of His resurrection. and the
fellowship of his sufferings being made conformable to his
death. That great desire that he's expressing
here in chapter 3. And what he knew, he wanted these
Philippians also to know. We've already referred to what
he says there at the end of chapter 1, and it was given to them in
the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to
suffer for his sake. or the Christian life, you see,
it will entail these sufferings, this humility. And yet in the
midst of it all, where is the secret of this contentment? It's
because it's the path that Christ himself has trodden. Contentment
then, even in the lows of the life of faith, the difficulties,
the trials, the troubles, the rejections, the misrepresentations. the doubts, the fears in the
midst of it all to be content because we're subject to that
sovereign will of God who is the God of all grace and has
demonstrated that grace in the gift of his only begotten son
but it would be wrong to think that it's just all abasement
there are also the heights of the life we face and Paul also
speaks of those abounding the abounding twice in verse 12 we
have that expression to abound and then also to be full I know
both how to be abased and I know how to abound everywhere and
in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry
both to abound and to suffer the least. In some ways we might say it's
as hard or even more hard to abound than to be abased. It's more
dangerous in some ways, isn't it? to abound, to be in those high
places. Think of the language that we
have in the book of Proverbs, the words of the wise man, there
at the end of Proverbs, in chapter 30 verse 8, Remove far from me
vanity and lies, give me neither poverty or riches, feed me with
food convenient for me, lest I be full. and deny thee, and
say, Who is the Lord? Or lest I be poor and still,
and take the name of my God in vain? Or the wise man prays,
you see, he doesn't want great riches, he doesn't want poverty.
How careful he is. And again in that portion that
we read, we read in that sixth chapter of 1st Timothy, the sixth
godliness with contentment is great gain for we brought nothing
into this world and it is certain we can carry nothing out and
having food and raiment let us be there with content but they
that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare and is a many foolish
and hurtful loss which drown men in destruction and perdition
For there are dangers, there's difficulties, you see, when in
His goodness God causes us to abound. It can be such a treacherous
path that we're walking in. It might lead to a certain carnal
security. God preserve us from that. Doesn't
the Lord Himself speak of that foolish rich man who fills his
barns and then says, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up
for many years. Take thine these, eat, drink,
and be merry. And God said to him, Thou fool,
this night thy soul shall be required of thee. For there is
the one thing needful, surely, above all things else, the one
thing needful, is to be those who do know the Lord Jesus Christ. As I said at the beginning, all
this Christian contentment centers in Him, everything centers in
Him. What is life without Him? We have to live that life of
faith, and what is the life of faith? It's a life of dependence
upon God. That's the life of faith. Not
laying up a story in hand, but from day to day, moment by moment,
looking to the Lord our God. It's that life of submission
to Him. That life of desiring that His will be done, and not
my will be done. Remember the Christian Jeremiah
Burroughs has that lovely little treatise entitled, The Rare Jewel
of Christian Contentment. The rare jewel, it's a rare thing,
isn't it? contentment, no easy path. So
often we're discontent, we bemoan our lot. Sometimes we feel we're
so hard done by. Or we have to look to the Lord
to be our teacher and our instructor. And He leaves these things here
on record in Scripture for our goods. This is why we have the
Word of God. to teach us, to instruct us,
but we want the Spirit of God to come or we need that gracious
unction of the Spirit that we might know these things. Not
that I speak in respect of one, Paul says, for I have learned
in whatsoever state I am therewith to be content. I know both how
to be abased and I know how to abound everywhere and in all
things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both
to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ
which strengtheneth me." And it's in a very practical context. He's acknowledging really the
goodness of these people who ministered to him. Notwithstanding,
he says, you have well done that you did communicate with me in
my affliction. How they loved him, how they
cared for him. and how He in turn cares for
them and desires that they might know something of this rare jewel,
that contentment that is found only in the Lord Jesus. May the Lord be pleased to bless
His work. Let us now conclude our worship
this morning. We turn to our concluding praise,
the hymn 247, the Tunis Kilmanuk, 856. O LORD, I would delight in Thee,
and on Thy care depend, to Thee in every trouble flee, my best,
my only friend. When all created streams are
dry, Thy fullness is the same. May I with this be satisfied,
and glory in Thy name. 247, TUNE 856.