Hebrews 13. Let's read verses
1 through 8 one more time, and
then we'll be moving on to verse 9 next week. Let brotherly love
continue. Do not neglect to show hospitality
to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.
Remember those who are in prison, as though in prison with them,
and those who are mistreated, since you also are in the body.
Let marriage be held in high honor among all, and let the
marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral
and adulterous. Keep your life free from the
love of money, and be content with what you have, for He has
said, I will never leave you nor forsake you. So we can confidently
say, The Lord is my helper, I will not fear. What can man do to
me? Remember your leaders, those
who spoke to you the word of God. Consider the outcome of
their way of life and imitate their faith. Jesus Christ is
the same yesterday and today and forever. Let's stop there. Now, when Paul writes that last
line, he is emphasizing the reality of the promise of God, the sufficiency
of Christ, and then he's also launching into an admonition,
a warning not to devote our time to ridiculousness, not to listen
to silliness, not to be caught up in debates and debacles and
frustrating dialogues to the point that we're losing our mind
over things at the cost of that which we've been clearly taught
to do. For example, letting brotherly love continue. And as we've looked
over the last two Wednesday nights specifically, we've seen this
exhortation here in 13 is the therefore after the gospel of
all sufficiency. If there's one thing that we've
learned in Paul's teaching here in this letter is that Christ
is all sufficient. He is the very God of the cosmos,
He's the very God of the universe, He's the very God of heaven,
He's the very God of earth, through which all things exist, through
which all things bow, or to Him all things bow or submit to Him.
And there is nothing that's outside His hand, nothing. And then specifically
because he is so sovereign, because he upholds the universe by the
word of his power, when we think of redemption and we think of
salvation, that also is subject to the power of Christ. So because
we have the power of Christ in all things, and especially salvation,
where is our hope? Our hope is in him, in his power,
in his promise. And so that's what this writer
has done all of these 12 chapters is just to go over and over the
reality of the sufficiency and the superiority and the preeminence
of Christ as the God-man. And that His sacrifice established
and secured and became the effectual power of God unto salvation for
the elect. So therefore we have nothing
that we need to worry about concerning salvation. And if that's the
case, we have nothing we need to worry about concerning our
way of life. So let us look to the cross,
hold fast to the sufficiency of the gospel, and by the power
of God and by his mercy, let us love one another and live
accordingly. And a specific thing that we
talked about last week that I want to just pound on tonight. It says in verse 5, we looked
at those five negatives last week, we saw that there is no
possibility whatsoever, none, that God can leave us and there
is absolutely no possibility, absolutely none, that God can
forsake us. So then we can, as it says there
in verse 6, confidently say, the Lord is my helper. The Lord
is my advocate. The Lord is my strength. The
Lord is my power. The Lord is my righteousness.
The Lord is my sufficiency. The Lord is my sanctification.
The Lord is my wisdom. The Lord is my all in all. The
Lord is my life. So then we will not fear. And
the question then is, what can man do to me? Now we've gone
a dozen times, if we've gone once, to Romans 8. We've seen
that the promises of God in Christ Jesus are so absolute and so
perfect and so eternal that there is nothing that can separate
us from God's love. Nothing. Not even our own selves. Specifically not our own selves.
But yet there's a little thing in here in verse 5 when it says,
and be content with what you have. Be content with what you
have. We see in verse 8, Jesus Christ
is the same yesterday and today and forever. And this is not
just, oh I want to say something new. I believe this is divinely
sandwiched. This is divinely sandwiched in
this teaching so that we might understand that our contentment
is related directly to our joy, is related directly to Christ's
sufficiency, is related directly to His immutability and unchangeability
and absolute eternality and all the promises therein that God
has given us through Him. But when we think of being content,
the Bible If we go through and just pick the word out in and
of itself, there's not a whole lot there. There's not a whole
lot there. There's only five or six places
in Scripture, maybe seven, that use the term in and of itself.
But yet there are many places in the Bible that talk about
not worrying. There are many places in the Scripture that
talk about not fearing. There are many places in the Scripture
to not labor over things with anxiety. There are many places
in Scripture that command us to rejoice. There are many places
in scripture that show us the sufficiency of God, the sufficiency
of God the Son, the sufficiency of the gospel, and then the therefores
put our focus on the service to the body of Christ, not service
of our own lives. There are many warnings about
loving the world and loving the things of the world and wanting
and desiring more. Jesus would even say in his example
that it is impossible for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven.
that you could shove a one ton animal through a sewing needle
easier than a rich man can go to heaven. And the disciples
of course say, then who can be saved? And he says, that which
is impossible with man is possible with God. So beloved, when we
think about being content, I want us to take a really deep breath
and for just a second, just admit to ourselves that we are not
content. We are not content people. We are not content in the gospel.
We are not content in the power of God. We are not content in
anything. Because we always want more,
different, better, whatever. There's always something out
there that has our eye. There's always some idol that
we justify while not praising God for anything, rather asking
Him for everything. And we know what James says about
that. We ask, we don't get because we don't ask, and when we do
ask, we ask that we may spend it on our passions. When the
scripture tells us that we should be asking for the sake of our
service to one another, as unto the Lord. And I will tell you
something, beloved, none of us are getting this, myself included.
None of us are getting the reality of what contentment is. That's
why Paul wrote it down. That's why he put it right here
in the never, never, never, never, never forsake you category. Because
if that doesn't cause us to understand what contentment should be. Then
nothing ever will. So what does it mean to be content?
Well, we can go to Merriam-Webster or we can go to any other dictionary. We can go to theological sources
and we can look in the back of our Bibles if we have a little
index or whatnot and we can look and we'll see all sorts of things
about sitting still and taking camp and living in a place and
all this. But let's just be simple. I'm
a simple type thinker, so let's think simply. Simply being content
is satisfaction. I'm satisfied. I'm satisfied. I'm satisfied with the temperature.
I'm satisfied with the bank account. I'm satisfied with my health. I'm satisfied with the circumstances. I'm satisfied. I'm satisfied.
I'm satisfied. So the question now is, in our
lives, with what are we satisfied? The Bible tells us, be content
with what you have. Here we have this command right
after actually in the same grammatical breath as keep yourself free
from the love of money. Now I don't know that any of
us would sit down and be able to be told by others you know
what you're just a greedy guy or you're a greedy gal. I don't
think that's the case. I don't think any of us could
sit down and accuse each other of being greedy However, the
love of money is such a wide, wide scope that it goes beyond
greed. Sometimes I think the love of
money sits very nicely on the precipice of discontentment.
Because if we had money, there would be a lot of things we would
not worry about. There would be a lot of decisions that we
would not have to make. There would be a lot of things
that we could do with our lives. I remember 25 years ago being
hoodwinked for a little while by this fast-talking businessman
who told me all the riches I could obtain if I just followed him
and his big brass ring. And I wasn't interested. But
then he picked up a Bible and said, think of what you could
do for the Lord if you were financially independent. And it's like he
put that ring around my throat and dragged me to the floor.
and he had me for a moment. Think what you could do. Think
what God can do with nothing. That's the better question. So
I say all that and I express these things so that we can all
be on the same page. Let us not pretend that we are
content. Let us not pretend that the gospel
is enough in our hearts today. But let us learn that it can
be. The command here is not centered
on our resolve or our ability to be satisfied in Christ. It
is centered on the promises of God and His impossible, impossible,
on the impossible, or the promise of the impossibility of Him ever
forsaking us, ever leaving us, so that we can know that God
is our helper. And because Christ does not change,
His promises do not change. So think about this. In what
area of life are we really satisfied? Are we satisfied in our circumstances? What are they? Paul, satisfied
in his circumstances, he was satisfied in Christ, but we see
him confess in Romans 7 that he had covetousness in his heart.
He called that covetousness idol worship. What was it about? It didn't matter. Covetousness
is covetousness. Idol worship is idol worship.
Discontentment is discontentment. It sits on the center of that
reality. Paul was discontent in his heart
with something. Probably, if I could take a stab,
it was probably either his physical thorn, spiritual thorn, emotional
thorn, or his state in being incarcerated when he really wanted
to do the Lord's work free. He did not lie concerning his
own state in his flesh. He confessed that to the point
where he screams and says in his writing, who shall rescue
me from this body of death? What shall I do? What shall I
do? Thanks be to God through Jesus
Christ our Lord. You notice that that's Paul's
answer in Romans 7. He said, wretched man that I
am, who will deliver me from this body of death? Let me put it in the context
of our present topic. Who will deliver me from my discontentment? He doesn't even answer it. He
just rejoices. Thanks be to God through Jesus
Christ our Lord. Therefore so then I will what? Serve myself the law of God with
my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin. And there is
no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Paul wasn't
self-condemned. Paul was honest, content. Where are we satisfied? If we're
satisfied in Christ, then why do we seek so many more things?
Why do we look, as John would warn the beloved Christians of
his first, the audience of his first epistle, why would he warn
them to not love the world? To not love the things of the
world. To not love the pride of life and the lust of the eyes
and the pride of possessions. To not look to elevate one's
status above that which God had established for them. But that's
what we do, isn't it? That's what we do. It's what
we do. We look. We think, I want different. I want better. And
if we're humble, we'll say, I'm not better. I just want to serve. I want to have. I want to be. You see, those are those three
things. I want to accomplish sometimes. I want to reward others. Beloved, I think this is probably
the biggest idol in the world today amongst believers is discontentment. How many times have we, well
maybe you don't think this way, but how many times has Paul's
instructions to do all things without grumbing or complaining
gone through your mind in the last day, in the last week, month,
year? Think about it for a moment.
What things should we not complain about? All things. How many complaints
have come from my mouth today? I don't know, I stopped counting
when I woke up. But I can think back on three
conversations and I've had a lot of complaints. What were the
complaints? It's too windy. It's too hot. That person's irritating. That
person's not doing their job. I'm tired of this. I wish everybody
would stop fussing about vaccinations. blah, blah, blah, wah, wah, wah,
cry, cry, cry, complain, complain, complain. How many times today
did I give God praise in the presence of others? Twice. I
asked countless complaints twice and it was so obvious because
I heard myself complaining. Boom, let's get in it. And that's
just what we do verbally. That's not even counting what
we say inside of our hearts, what we don't even know we're
saying inside of our hearts and minds. Where is our hope? It's not in us being content.
It's in the knowledge of Christ and what He did. Christ was content. And Christ has promised our contentment
can come because of Him. So Paul, I would say John probably
was just content. I would say that we could see
David, oh my goodness, if we just go to the Psalms, we could
see all sorts of crybaby stuff in there, can't we? I mean, everywhere
you turn, where are these enemies? I mean, David just loves to whine
and whine and whine. But yet God always keeps him. Why? Because he is an elect child
and he is a man after God's own heart. In Psalm 131, we hear
these words. Oh, Lord, my heart is not lifted
up and my eyes are not raised too high. I do not occupy myself
with things too great and me and to me, excuse me, and too
marvelous for me. But I have calmed. Listen to
this. I have calmed and quieted my soul like a weaned child with
its mother, like a weaned child is my soul within me. Oh, Israel,
hope in the Lord from this time forth and forever more. Now we talk a lot, Grace Truths,
we talk a lot about the peace of God. And I ignore very clearly that
the peace of God includes contentment. Solomon writes in Ecclesiastes,
Behold, what I have seen to be good and fitting is to eat and
drink and find enjoyment in all the toil with which one toils
under the sun the few days of his life that God has given him,
for this is his lot." Now think about what he's saying there.
Solomon's just saying, hey, I just, I see it good and fitting to
just enjoy the life as God has given me. And Solomon was not
a content man. He wanted more wisdom, God gave
it to him. He wanted more wealth, God gave it to him. And for some
crazy reason, he wanted multiple wives and God gave it to him.
And he still didn't find contentment. Nothing, nothing. But he understood that the lot
that God has in the same conversation cast for us, purposed for us,
is that which God has purposed for us. But yet we're always
trying to do more. Now, let me give a caveat. Let
me give an out here. There's nothing wrong with plans. What does James say? If the Lord
wills. There's nothing wrong with desiring
to start a business or to get a promotion or anything of that
nature. But what typically causes these
desires is discontentment. It's not encouraging expansion
of one's abilities to the glory of God. It's not I have things
that have come my way and opportunities that has been offered to me,
so the Lord has opened this for me to serve Him." No, it's we
getting behind our own steering wheel and driving our lives into
the direction we think would be better for us. Paul tells Timothy in 1 Timothy
chapter 6, he says, but godliness with contentment is great gain.
And then he couples that. For we brought nothing into the
world, and we cannot take anything out of the world. But if we have
food and clothing, with these we will be content." How many clothes do you have
in your closet? How many shirts do you need? How many pairs of
shoes could you possibly wear? Now, okay, I've got boots that
I go in the mud with, I've got boots that I go in the sand with,
and I've got boots that I can dress up with. We understand
we have to have certain tools, but let's be honest. Do we really
wear all of them, or do we wear just a... You see, I'm just showing. So even when it comes to clothing,
even when it comes to food, I mean, how many scraps do we throw away
at the end of the day? How many different varieties of recipes
do we have? How many times have we gone out
and eaten something at a restaurant that cost us 12 times what we
could make it at home and go, that wasn't even good. So even
when we have food and clothing, sometimes we're not content. In 2 Corinthians 9, which has
everything to do with giving, There's an incredible phrase
that Paul says there. It has everything to do with
the promise of the church of Jerusalem to give, I mean the
church of Corinth, to give to the church there, and their promise. And he says, and God is able
to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency
in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work.
Now, what is in the world is Paul saying? In the context there
is financial giving. But he's saying, understand that
all that you have is everything that God has given you, and everything
that God has given you, he has sufficient power at all times
and all things to make you abound in every good work for everything
that you have. So that God does not give us what we have as believers
so that we may prosper in our own eyes, but he does all that
we have that we may keep the covenant life with the saints
and the body of Christ. Beloved, how many times do we
stay up at night and we can't go to sleep because our minds
won't quit worrying about what's going to happen in three days,
or what's going to happen tomorrow, or the conversations. If you're
like me, I'm a little bit out of it, but I have conversations
with people. And I can try my best not to
have these conversations, but conversations happen quickly
in your mind. An hour can go by like a second
in your brain. So then you're upset how they
responded and they haven't even heard your words. We assume,
we look, it's not trusting in what God is going to establish.
Who cares about the outcome of these things? Has God not orchestrated
them all for the purpose of our joy and good? Has He not established
before the foundation of the world to know every sparrow and
every lily? Can He not also provide for us?
Well, there's no better place to go in the context of this
type of teaching than to Philippians. So turn over to Philippians for
a moment and just look there. One of the most famous out-of-context
verses in the entire scripture, one of the most, not the most,
is Philippians 4. Paul writes this letter from
prison, from jail, left to himself. And of course, Dr. Luke is tending
to him We know Timothy and Epaphroditus and others that he needs, he's
sending to the Philippians. Paul writes this because he wants
them to rejoice. He wants these Christians to
quit worrying about him. Isn't that great? He says, and
he teaches throughout his apostolic writing, he teaches that we ought
to be concerned about each other's business and ought to be committed
to being where we are and staying where we are and serving where
we are that we might rejoice together in the Lord so that
God can be glorified in our service. And then when they do it for
him, because their anxiety has overwhelmed their service, he
says, don't worry about me. You ever think about that? He rejoices and he thanks them
for their prayers. He says, I know that I'm going
to be delivered from this. Either I'm going to die or I'm
going to be set free. But either way, I know you're
praying for that. So the will of God is going to be done and I'm content
with it. When he gets over to chapter four, he gives a big
therefore. Big therefore. Because here's
Paul who says, run the race. Here's Paul who says, strive
for the prize. Here's Paul who says, keep your eyes on the crown
of righteousness. Keep your eyes on the crown of glory. Keep your
eyes on the crown of life. And be a good soldier. Be like
a participant in the games. Run. If you don't participate,
you don't go, you don't get to the finish line. Finish the work,
but don't be anxious. Finish the work, but don't worry.
Finish the work, but be content in the work that God has given
you. Be content in the place that God has you. And you might say, well, I can't
be. Yes, you can be. Why? because the Bible commands
us to do that, and God's grace for His people sufficiently provides
this promise as well. The peace that surpasses all
understanding, but there is always a remedy, there's always a recipe,
if you will, and the recipe is not to labor to move outside
of the will of God, but to labor to rest in the promises of God
and His eternal immovability. And he says in chapter four of
Philippians. Well, look at verse eight. Oh
my goodness. Let's read chapter four. Therefore,
my brothers whom I love and long for, therefore, my brothers who
are my joy and my crown, I command you to stand firm thus in the
Lord, my beloved. Stand firm. Because everything,
how does he say that? Because everything in life, everything
in the world, where you are right now, Philippian Church, where
I am right now in prison, where we are right now, Grace Truth
Church, where each one of us are right now in this particular
season of life, this is God's doing. And I will tell you now, God
has a purpose in it all. So stand firm. And then he talks
about Euodia and Synthica and others, people that he loves. He tells them to receive them,
help these women who have labored side by side with me in the gospel
together with Clement and the rest of my fellow workers whose
names are in the book of life. In verse four, he commands, rejoice
in the Lord always. Again, I will say, rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known
to everyone. The Lord is at hand. Do not be
anxious about anything. But in everything, by prayer
and supplication, with gratitude and thanksgiving, let your requests
be made known to God. So here's the remedy. How is
the gospel the power of God and the salvation and the power of
the promise of peace? When we focus on the gospel, When we focus on the gospel and
we focus together on the gospel, when we're together encouraging
and learning and growing and worshiping, we should exhort
one another to be thankful for every circumstance that comes
our way. And beloved, this is a failure on my part. If I would exemplify and project
gratitude in all things, maybe some of the rest of us would
begin to express gratitude in all things. And the same thing
would be true for you. If everywhere we are and every time we are
together we can share our burdens and then be thankful together
as we pray for God to do that which He has purposed in our
needs and in our burdens and in our fears and anxieties while
rejoicing, we will begin to recognize a sense in which these silly
things, these as Paul would say to the Corinthians, light momentary
afflictions are really nothing whatsoever. But they get great
status in our hearts. They get great status in our
thoughts. They get great status in our plans. Don't be anxious. But let us
pray for one another and let us be thankful as we ask our
Father who loves us and gives us all things good. And verse
7 in Philippians 4 says, and the peace of God which surpasses
all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in
Christ Jesus. And I have preached this before. You have read this before. This is not a new text for us,
beloved. But what does it say? The peace
of God, which goes beyond how you can think about it. Which
goes beyond normal, cognitive, logical apprehension. It's not
like, okay, I see it and I'll put these two or three things
together. Oh, there it is. No, it's a peace. It's a resting,
it's like saving faith that is given to us by God the Spirit
in regeneration. We rest, we have hope, we are
at peace in our eternal life because of Christ. And we learn
the truth of Christ, that the peace is God's to grant. And the peace of God surpasses
all understanding What does that peace do? It guards our hearts. Isn't that the truth? Isn't that what we really want?
It guards our minds. So it guards our affections.
It guards our thinking. It guards our anxiety. It guards
our it guards everything and everything is secure in the supremacy
the very one who is the exact imprint of the nature of God
who has made purification for sins and sat down at the right
hand of majesty on high having become much more superior than
to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than
theirs. Hebrews 1. So finally then brothers Whatever
is true, what should I put my heart on? What should I put my
mind on? Whatever is true, honorable,
just, pure, lovely, commendable, excellent, worthy of praise,
think about these things. Give us an example. Also, verse
9, what you have learned and received and heard and seen in
me Practice these things and the God of peace is with you
forever. Don't forget that Now to the point of contentment Where
is contentment there? Well, that's the context in which
Paul's writing Paul's about to tell them he's fine. He doesn't
need their help. He doesn't need their money.
He doesn't need their support He doesn't need them to try to
go drag him out of jail God has him there for a purpose and though
his hands may be bound. What does he say? The Word of
God is not bound And though other people have taken up the mantle
where Paul used to be preaching, and they have come out there
to make money off the gospel, they were articulating the gospel
correctly. And Paul says, let them preach. I don't care what
kind of pretense they have. And even though I'm arrested,
and even though I'm in chains, it has advanced the gospel, even
by these knuckleheads who think they're doing something for themselves.
They're actually being used by God to proclaim the truth of
Christ. Let God sort out their pretenses. Let God sort out their
lies. Not lies about the gospel, but
lies in their intentions. He says, I rejoice greatly, Philippians
4.10, that now at length you have revived your concern for
me. He didn't rebuke them and say don't worry or don't think
of me. He praised God for the fact that
they were concerned with Paul's well-being and needs. This is
what the body does. You were indeed concerned for
me, but you had no opportunity. In other words, you wanted to
help, but you didn't know how, and you didn't have a way to make
it happen. And then he says in verse 11, not that I am speaking
of being in need. Was Paul in need? Yes, he was
in need. What was his purpose of writing to the Philippians?
To express his need? No. Did he express a need? Yes. What does he say? Pray for us. Pray for the gospel. Pray. What he says here is, I'm not
speaking of being in need. I didn't write this so that you
can send me something. Give me something. For I have
learned. Isn't that great? How did Paul
learn contentment? Through discontentment. How did
Paul learn to stay focused on that which God had called him
to do? By having the opportunity to be distracted. I have learned
in whatever situation I am to be content. I am to be satisfied,
beloved. Listen to that. I am to be satisfied. I know how to be brought low
and I know how to abound. Paul suffered and been broke,
homeless, naked and hungry and Paul's had everything he could
ever need. But he goes on to say, in any
and every circumstance I have learned the secret of facing
plenty and facing hunger. I have learned the secret of
facing abundance and facing need. And the secret of all of this
is that I know I can endure all things through Him who strengthens
me. What did Jesus say to Paul when he prayed three times to
be healed of whatever was going on in his life, to be removed,
to have the thorn taken? The Lord said, Paul, my grace
is enough for your satisfaction. My grace is your contentment,
for my power is perfected in your weakness. Only when you
are weak am I strong. Because when we want to do it
all on our own, we're not trusting and resting in the sufficiency
of Christ. And yeah, there may be some things
in our minds. How's the gospel gonna take me to the next level? How's the gospel gonna get me
to the next issue? How's the gospel gonna take me
here, there, yonder, or for this particular stage or season of
my life? And the answer to that is the gospel will give you contentment
where you are right now. Paul goes on to say, it was very
kind of you to share my trouble. And you Philippians yourself
know that in the beginning of the gospel, when I left Macedonia, no church
partnered with me at all. No church gave me anything except
for you. Even when I was in Thessalonica,
verse 16, you sent me help for my needs. And once again, once
again, you sent me help and not that I'm seeking the gift, but
I seek the fruit that increases to your credit. I have received
full payment and more, and am well supplied, having received
from Epaphroditus the gifts you sent. A fragrant offering, a
sacrifice acceptable and pleasing to God, and my God will supply
every need of yours according to His riches and glory in Christ
Jesus. To our God and Father be glory
forever and ever. Amen. So now we're back to Hebrews. Be content. and the gospel. For Christ is the same yesterday,
today, and forever. Now, let's break it down here
in the last few minutes that I have. The contentment of the
gospel promises us the greatest... Let me just say this in a vague
way and then I'll specifically point it. We will be content
because God will grant us riches. We will be content because God
will grant us power. We will be content because God
will grant us status. And we will be content because
God will grant us success, fruitfulness. The problem is we would rather
have the gold than the riches of His glory, which are ours
in Christ Jesus. We would rather have the accomplishments
rather than the glory that is shared in Christ. We would rather
have absolute status and the glory that comes from men rather
than the glory that comes from God. And beloved, that's why
these things are written, that we may be reminded of the beauty
of everything that we have, everything that God has, and all the riches
of all the world are His, and all of them are nothing. But
the riches of His grace, the riches of His glory, the riches
of His Son, the riches of His power and His authority, He has
given to us at the death of Jesus and in the life of Jesus through
which His very great promise has come. And He will not ever,
never, never, never leave us or forsake us. So what do we
do from here? We have to listen to the promises
of Christ instead of listening to the voice inside of our heads
that's being tainted by all of the different voices of our culture
and our day. And beloved, if we could just
put the practice and the discipline of rejoicing in the gospel more
than we complain about the frustrations of life. I believe the peace
of God, as is promised in this text and in the texts that we
looked at today, will lead us to a place where our peace will
be beyond what anybody else can understand. Let's pray. Father, help us. Help us to rejoice
in the perfection of Jesus. Help us to stay still and quit
looking for more. Help us to quit worrying and
fear being fearful over the future. Help us to quit being so regretful
over the past. But Lord, help us as a people. To sit. Rejoicing. And all that you've given us
in Christ. Even when we do not have food. Father, help us to be content
in grace. And when we do have food, help
us to rejoice in both circumstances and not to forget that everything
that we have comes from you. And we have much, Father. And
everything that this world is and everything that this world
has will be taken away. And all that will remain is your
word, Jesus Christ, your son, and those you have given him
before the foundations of all creation to share in your righteousness
and to share in your glory. By your grace alone. Through
your son, Jesus, in whose name we pray, amen.