These notes accompany the sermon found here.
Introduction:
The Series: The upward call of God is to be like Jesus Christ. This sermon series is focused on the mindset and practices that produce progress in response to this call. It encourages us to strain forward to what lies ahead and to help others to do the same.
Today’s Text: Philippians 4:10-13
Material support in proper perspective:
- Gifts are greatly appreciated. Philippians 4:10, 14-16.
- Giving yields a blessing. Philippians 4:17-18; Acts 20:35; Matthew 6:33.
- At any given time, Paul is content without them. Philippians 4:10; 1 Timothy 6:6, 8; 2 Corinthians 9:8; Hebrews 13:5.
What Christian contentment is:
“Christian contentment is that sweet, inward, quiet, gracious frame of spirit, which freely submits to and delights in God’s wise and fatherly disposal in every condition.” — Jeremiah Burroughs
- It is a “Frame of Spirit”: This is an inward matter of the soul that underlies all other aspects of personality, temperament, and affections.
- It “freely submits”: Rather than rejecting circumstances, the contented one puts himself under the circumstances.
- It “delights in” the circumstances: Precisely because it is in these circumstances that God stands ready to accomplish His will in you.
“The righteous man can never be made so poor, to have his house so rifled and spoiled, but there will remain much treasure within. The presence of God and the blessing of God are upon him, and therein is much treasure.” — Jeremiah Burroughs.
See also 2 Corinthians 4:7-12; Philippians 4:10-13, 18; Psalm 119:71; Ezekiel 7:9; 1 Corinthians 10:13; James 1:17.
What Christian contentment is not:
It is not a surrender to the circumstances, complacency, laziness, an absence of complaint, a burden, a call to do it alone, or an absence of emotion.
How to grow in Christian contentment
- Know that it is a command. Hebrews 13:5; 1 Timothy 6:6, 8;
- “ That to be well skilled in the mystery of Christian contentment is the duty, glory, and excellence of a Christian” — Jeremiah Burroughs
- Let Jesus Christ teach you.
- His total sufficiency for you. Psalm 18:2, John 1:16, Philippians 4:13.
- His love for you. 1 John 3:1, 4:9-10; John 15:13.
- The secret of self-denial. Isaiah 50:6, 53:7-10; Matthew 16:24; Philippians 2:6-11.
- The vanity of this life. Ecclesiastes 1-12;
- The proper relationship with this world. Hebrews 11:13; 1 Peter 2:11; 2 Timothy 2:3-4; Psalm 119:19;
- That he is the source of life itself. John 1:4, 3:16, 5:21.
- The nature of our own hearts. Jeremiah 17:9; Ezekiel 11:19, 36:26; Genesis 6:5; Matthew 15:19; James 1:14-15.
- What is truly necessary. Luke 10:41-42.
- His promises. John 6:40, 14:1-3, 14:18, 15:5.
Reference: Jeremiah Burroughs, 1599-1646, The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment, https://chapellibrary.org:8443/pdf/books/rjoc.pdf
Suggested Music
“His Eye In on the Sparrow” Chelsea Moon, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O9qQR58yGwU
“It Is Well” Sovereign Grace Music, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1NR6aFoeYsw
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