The Secret of Being Content

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“… I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation…”

Philippians 4:12

Main Readings: Job 1 & Philippians 4:4-20

Related Readings: Hebrews 13:1-8 & Psalm 23

In verse 12, Paul says, ‘I have learned the secret…’  Have you ever learned a secret – some juicy gossip, perhaps?  Did you share it?!  Perhaps with your BFF - Best Friend Forever!  How did you share it?  Blurt it out?  Or did you wait.  Perhaps mentioning it towards the end a conversation.  Cos, you wanted it to stay in their minds.  And for them to go away thinking about it?

That’s Paul’s approach here.  We’re near the end of his letter to the church in Philippi.  They were his BFF’s.  So close to his heart.  He loved them deeply.  And he’s chosen to wait until the end of his message.  To tell them a secret.  Cos, he wants them go away thinking about it… for the rest of their lives!  Cos this secret is awesome!  It’s life-changing!  ‘The secret of being content in any and every situation.’  Who wouldn’t want that?!  So, let’s see look at Paul’s grand reveal.

In verse 4, Paul told these friends, ‘Rejoice in the Lord always.’  Now, in verse 10, he says, ‘I rejoiced greatly in the Lord…’  Paul wasn’t a do-what-I-say-not-what-I-do type of preacher.  He practised what he preached.  He told them to rejoice in Christ always.  And that was what he did!

But how could Paul ‘always’ manage to find joy?  The reason Paul often found joy is the same reason that joy was found in the Parable of the Lost Sheep?   That’s a short story Jesus told (Luke 15 1-7).  At the start of the story there’s a guy with 100 sheep.  Then 1 gets lost.  At the end of the story there’s joy.  The guy says to his mates, ‘Rejoice with me.’  Why?  Cos, the lost had been found.  But how?  Found, cos the guy went looking for it.  He found what he didn’t have.  And he found joy, cos he went looking.

It’s like Paul here.  In verse 8 – which we looked at last time - he’s told the Philippians where to go looking.  When life gets trouble – like it does.  And your joy and peace go walkabout. Like stupid sheep.  Don’t be stupid!  Don’t go looking for your joy and peace in what’s bad.  Cos, you won’t find them!  Rather, turn your minds to whatever’s ‘true’ and ‘right’ and ‘lovely.’  Cos, joy and peace are more likely to be found in what’s lovely, than in what’s ugly.

Isn’t it so true?  When the ugliness of other’s behaviour affects me.  And I dwell on it that ugly.  What happens to me?  My thoughts.  My words.  My actions.  They can go ugly too.  And broken life gets more broken.  But Paul says, like, ‘Fix that broken.  With good tools.  Better ‘things.’  Which he lists in verse 8.  And says, ‘think about such things.’  And things will mend quicker.  Dwelling on things that cause discontent – does not lead to greater joy or peace or contentment.

But there’s something I missed out last time.  And I want to look at it now.  Cos it’s relevant to today’s subject – ‘the secret of being content.’

Paul says, ‘think.’  ‘Think about such things.’  And our English word ‘think’ is translated from the New Testament Greek word ‘logizomai.’  And the start of that word looks like our English word, ‘logic.’  Cos, our word ‘logic’ comes from this word.  Paul’s asking us, not just to think, but to think logically – so calculate correctly - think using God logic.  Correct thinking based on ‘whatever is true’ when you’re in Christ Jesus.  To make calculations about our lives on that basis.

This reminds me of school.  Maths was one of the few things that I was ok at!  But, when we did tests, the same thing regularly happened.  I didn’t get the results I should’ve.  And my teacher used to say, ‘Paul, these results don’t reflect reality.  Full of silly mistakes.  Check your work!’  And so - eventually – I did.  And found that when I rushed – when I jumped to conclusions – I often missed out some of the variables.  And – who da thought?! - I got wrong answers.  But when I slowed down.  And did the calculations properly – and included everything - I got better results.

That’s what Paul’s saying.  When life’s troubling.  Do you look at the bad and broken.  And make calculations using only them.  And get bad answers.  And rubbish results.  Well, slow down.  Go back again.  Put God back in.  You’ve a heavenly Father – who sent his Son to die on a cross.  To buy back you - and your whole life - for him.  In all things – including the bad things you’re trying to work out now – he’s working for your good.  Add that to your calculations.  And you’ll come up with much better answers about where your life is really heading.  Better answers that reflect what you’ve learnt, since coming to Christ by faith.  And then… you’ll perhaps have started learning another lesson.  About a secret called contentment.

Paul often went looking for good.  Even though his circumstances weren’t great.  Remember.  He was a prisoner in Rome.  Suffering for Christ.  Chained to a Soldier.  Awaiting trial before Caesar.  But it’s worse than that.  Paul was under house arrest.  But Acts 28 30 tells us that Paul had to pay for renting that house.  A prisoner.  But paying for the ‘privilege.’  Imagine!

How’s he gunna do that?  He must’ve wondered.  He couldn’t go and get a job.  Imagine at the job interview.  ‘Right then, is there anything that may have a bearing on your suitability for this role?’  ‘Well… I’m not allowed to leave the house – that I’m paying for – and, even if I was, my hands are tied - to him – 24/7!’  ‘Thanks, Mr Paul… We’ll get back to you!’  Paul was relying on others.  And now, these others at Philippi have ‘shared’ what they have with him.   They’ve sent Epaphroditus with some cash.  What was Paul’s reaction.  It’s here in verse 10, ‘I rejoiced greatly.’  Paul was not disconnected from the circumstances of his life.  When good came, it affected him in good ways.

Paul has received some funds.  He rejoiced – greatly in the Lord.  He knew the money had been handed out by his friends in Philippi.  And delivered by the hand of Epaphroditus.  But he rejoiced in the Lord.  Cos – in all this - he saw the Lord’s hand. 

So, he got more money.  Did that make him content.  Is that the secret?  More money – more moolah – equals less miserable.  No.  that’s not the secret.  That’s the myth.  Yes, these funds would’ve improved Paul’s outward circumstances for a bit.  But Paul wants them to know that the secret to the Christians contentment should not be in the outward – in what surrounds our life. 

That’s the myth - that’s truly, madly, deeply ingrained in our culture.  And can so invade our thinking.  More coin equals more contentment.  Growing in life’s stuff – that’s what we need.  How often, on the news, do we hear talk of growth, or lack of it.  It’s used as the measure of whether our economy is healthy or not.  Is there growth?  That’s the question.  But it’s as if that’s the measure of whether people will be content in life.

And there’s the idea that’s constantly pushed - push for more.  Better grades at school or college.  A better university.  A better job.  A better house.  A better car.  Better stuff.  Cos that’ll bring better contentment.  Outward growth – that’s what’ll do it.  And I’m not knocking those things.  I’m not.  Cos Paul doesn’t here.  In verse 12, he tells us that sometimes he had better.  ‘I know what it is to have plenty.’  Times when his life was ‘well fed.’  Times when his outward ‘circumstances’ (v.11) were… well ‘well.’  But his outward ‘situation’ was not what he relied on for his sense of contentment.

Cos that’s all well and good, when life’s all well and good.  But what about when life’s not so good?  Cos, that happens.  Cos, that will.  If our contentment is in outward stuff – and that’s taken out – then contentment’s out too!

Paul’s contentment hasn’t left him.  Yet so much has been taken out of Paul’s outward experience.  This was a man used to global travel.  His life during that middle part of the book of Acts reads like he’s a gap year student!    He’s gone anywhere and everywhere.  And been followed by riots!  But now, that part of his life’s gone.  But contentment hasn’t gone.   Cos he’d learned the secret - the outward isn’t everything.  Cos, can you sense Paul’s sense of having like an inner person.  The Bible gives us that sense – doesn’t it?  The Bible uses words like ‘soul’ and ‘spirit’ to describe something that’s inner – in a person – deep within a person.

This – losing the outward - reminds me of Job, that Old Testament man.  He had everything.  A rich and full life.  More than anyone else alive.  And then, one day - gone.  And Job said something amazing - ‘Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I shall depart.  The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised.’

He had all of life’s trappings.  But they hadn’t trapped his inner person.  Of course, not everything Job said was quite so good!  Cos his friends came along.  They were obsessed with outward stuff.  Affected by their culture - they believed that the measure of God’s favour lay in outward stuff.  And so – unlike these Philippian believers with Paul – they didn’t ‘share in (Job’s) troubles.’  They made his troubles worse!  By messing with his head!

Be careful not to do that.  When life goes bad for others.  Don’t belittle what they’re facing.  Don’t bring more bad.  Share whatever’s good.  Don’t make life’s mess, messier.  Cos, it’s easily done.  We can do that to others.  We can do it to ourselves.  I feel that I have that talent.  When life pushes discontent my way, I don’t need others to mess with my head.  I’m well capable of messing with my own!  And nurturing discontent!

So, at what times, did Paul expect his inner person to be content.  This is what’s so amazing.  These verses cover the whole of human experience.  It’s like Paul marks out the boundaries of life.  He puts a stake in the ground on one side of life’s playing field.  That stake is marked with words from verse 12.  It reads, ‘to have plenty – well fed – living in plenty (life to the full).’  And on the other side he plants a stake with those other words - ‘in need – hungry – in want.’

All human experience lies within the bounds of that field.  Our lives may at times seem very close to either of those stakes.  Often, our lives will be somewhere in between.  But that field’s where our lives – our whole lives - will play out.  Sometimes supplied with much.  And a full lived out – outward – experience.  And sometimes supplied with little.  Or less.  ‘Any and every situation’ is here.

But notice what Paul says about that.  ‘I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation.’  How could he do that?  Cos, that’s the thing.  We read of Paul’s contentment here and what do we want?  We want that.  I dare say that we want to change places.  With a man in prison.  Cos, he doesn’t sound like a man living in prison.  Does he?  He sounds like a man living in a palace.  Cos he is.  His inner person is, like, living in the palace of God’s love and peace and contentment in Christ.

And though his outward circumstances are lacking.  The Lord is factored in - to his calculations about his life.  He knows, his inner being… is being supplied.  With all he needs.

How could he do this?  Verse 13 tells us.  ‘I can do this through him who gives me strength.’  It’s like Paul’d realised– through the experiences of his life – the secret.  Life may supply our outward with much.  Or not much.  But Christ Jesus alone can supply our inner person with the strength we’ll need to live that life.  And he promises that he will.  Paul doesn’t say, ‘I might be able to do this…’  He says ‘I can…’  ‘I can.’ - Cos he will!  Can we learn the secret of being content with that?

A secret.  That’s something few people know.  Outside of Christ, you can’t know this.   But even for those in Christ – believers – this can still feel like a secret.  ‘Content in any and every situation’?  How can I be more of that?

Verses 11 and 12 contain the same expression – ‘I have learned…’  It’s important enough to get repeated.  ‘I have learned.’  Cos, Paul’s contentment didn’t come by magic.  He learned it.  Paul’s life went through some really tricky stuff.  We see that in the book of Acts.  Actually we see Paul sometimes volunteering for really tricky stuff.  He didn’t dodge tricky.  In Acts 21, he told other believers that he was planning to go to Jerusalem.  And they grasped what that meant.  That meant that Paul was gunna end up where he was now.  And they ‘pleaded with Paul not to go…’  It’s like they were saying to Paul, ‘Don’t do that.  Cos, if you do that, you’ll face tricky.’  And what’s inferred is, ‘you’ll need to rely on some extraordinary provision of God’s grace!’

But that was Paul’s thinking.  That’s why they couldn’t talk him out of it.  He was willing to rely on some extraordinary provision of God’s free giving in Christ.  And to learn this lesson of contentment, we may have to do the same.  This learning is not done in a classroom.  This secret is learnt through play – the great play of our lives.  When our lives pass through tricky – when our outward circumstances go from much more, to less, to little and nothing, and we rely on God’s provision for our – often flaky/shaky – inner person.  We’ll find he’s good to his word.  We’ll find that he who gave Paul strength.  Gives us the same.  And we’ll learn something for the next time it happens.  Cos, it will.

This is ‘learned.’  Through the rocky experience of life.  I think there’s a rocky experience that can illustrate this.  Some of you’ll’ve heard of Alex Honnold.  His life’s a rocky experience.  Cos, he’s a free climber.  That means he often climbs rocks without ropes or any type of safety net. In 2017 he became the first person to free climb El Capitan in Yosemite National Park.  What’s El Capitan?  It’s big.  Like a thousand metres of vertical rock face, type of big.  How’d he do that?

With a lot of learned practice.  He used ropes first.  And he went over and over difficult sections of the ascent until his confidence grew.  And then he ditched the ropes.  And said, ‘I can do this…’  And did.  He went all the way up.  But my point is this.  He didn’t learn the secret of climbing El Capitan from a book.  And then go do it.  He learned through lived out experience.

And this secret here – of contentment - is learnt through lived out experience.  In life situations that can make us weep – and make us weak – he gives us strength.  Reinforced learning of this will teach us more of this secret.  And help us to factor the Lord into our life calculations.  And resulting contentment.  We may not reach the dizzy heights that the apostle Paul reached.  We probably won’t.

When I read what Paul has learned – here.  It feels like he’s already got his master’s degree in contentment.  And is well on the way to a PHD.  Whereas me – in my 4th decade of being a believer – I feel like I’m still in foundation class.  Struggling to progress beyond the early-years stuff.  But whatever – I’m content to carry on learning.  About the goodness of my God.  And his love of my life in Christ.

Hebrews 13 mentions contentment.  It’s so opposite to our culture.  It says this – ‘Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, ‘Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.’  

There’s loads of things that can go missing in the brokenness of life.  Look at Job.  Look at Paul.  We may lose.  Stuff - or health.  Homes - or jobs.  Our whole way of life may change over time.  Or in a flash.  We may lose out in love.  We may lose friends.  We may be rejected by family.  But our God?  He’s not leaving!

And it’s all because of the cross of Christ.  It’s like our God reminds us here – there was something that made me leave your life.   Your sin.  But what separated me from you - and your life - was taken by my Son.  All the way to Calvary’s Cross.  And left there.  And now that’s gone - by faith in Christ.  I’m going nowhere.  ‘Never will I leave you.’  Never will I cut off my supply of strength to your inner person.

These verses won’t change what’s going on around us.  But they can help what goes on in here (heart).  As we live life – maybe sometimes in plenty, maybe sometimes in great need – but always.  Always.  Always.  In his loving hand.