Well, good morning to everyone. Beautiful winter morning. I guess we got a little bit of winter left, so it'll be chilly this week. 

I just wanted to say we've been working through Philippians 3 and 4 for quite some time now, and this has really been one of the most convicting studies that I've done in a long time because of Paul's emphasis on having one mind, having the right focus of serving others, and having our thoughts in the same place as God's thoughts and what our life should be about. So I hope that's true for you as well.

We are continuing our study in this book this morning in chapter 4, and we're coming near to the end of the book. We've been seeing the emphasis of Paul in the last couple chapters on unity and purpose and passion in the church, having one mind, having the mind of Christ. 

We have seen in this section of chapter 4 how we can stand spiritually stable on a firm foundation, not tossed to and fro by the various circumstances of our life. This morning, we're going to continue in that same vein with Paul's example to us of how we can be content in Christ. 

Paul said to Timothy, physical exercise profits a little, but godliness with contentment is great gain. Godliness with contentment. You know, godliness doesn't cost anything financially. This is a pursuit that all believers can attain by seeking Jesus, to know Him, to abide in Him, to be faithful one day at a time. 

Godliness is God's great desire for each one of us to conform us to the likeness of Christ, that we might glorify Him in all that we do and be a witness in this world to the transforming power of the gospel of Jesus Christ. 

But contentment, contentment in this world, this is an elusive virtue. There was a time many years ago now when hunting and trapping was my life. I was driven to catch the most fur, kill the biggest buck, catch the biggest fish. I dedicated countless days and hours and all my resources to this pursuit. 

One cold morning, my trapping partner and I set out to check 12 beaver ponds that we had set the week before. We had 86 conibears under the ice set on beaver runs and entrances to houses. That day, we caught 63 beaver under the ice. It was a long day. We ended up down by Island Lake with my buddy's Toyota Tacoma, loaded with beaver and traps, pulling a trailer with our two tundras and otter sleds. 

The truck was nearly dragging the ground as we traveled up Island Lake Road toward Hurley. As we drove, exhausted from the long day and chopping ice and loading beaver and traps, my buddy looked over at me and he said this: I wish we'd have just caught one more. 

I remember another time when my buddy Al Smith came up to hunt late bow season with me. I put him on one of my best stands up on Valley Road in Kimball. It was cold, near zero that day, and we had two feet of snow on the ground. He was sitting in a climber on a tree from first thing in the morning all day long. 

A buck finally came in about 3 o'clock in the afternoon. Al took his hands out of his coat and grabbed his bow, but it took about 30 minutes for that buck to turn where he could get a shot. He said he could barely feel his hands when he shot that buck. 

He showed up at my house in Pence, and I asked him if he had any luck. He said, yeah, there's a 150-inch 10-pointer in the back of the truck. And then he said this: I don't know if I'll ever kill a 170-inch buck. That 10-pointer scored 153. It was the ninth buck that Al had killed in these Northwoods with over 150 inches with his bow. But what he really wanted was a 170-incher. 

Contentment seems a foreign, almost profane concept in our culture. Everything about our time, where we live, the attitude of our society works against contentment. We are driven to do and have more and more. We define ourselves by the size of our house and car and the number of toys we have, the money we have in the bank, the number of trophies our children put on our shelves. More and more and more. 

The pressure of our culture, the pounding of advertising and social media, and the lies of how happy everyone else is, doing and having more and more and more, it's all designed to make us discontent, to make us think we are lacking something, that the next new thing will fulfill us, make us happy. 

If I could just have the new iPhone, or a better car, or the latest gadget, then I would be happy. If I could just get to the place where I could retire and have a little place on the beach and go fishing, do what I want to do, then I would find peace and fulfillment. 

I've known some older couples who all their life said, when I retire, I'm not going to do anything I don't want to do. And it turns out they didn't want to do anything. They asked Rockefeller, how much money makes a man happy? What did he say? Just a little more, just a little more. 

This is the design of our world, especially in the West, particularly in the United States and the culture we've grown up in, just a little more. And the pursuit is the means by which we are kept engaged. If we ever get there, reach the goal, have it all, then we're in real trouble. 

Think of Michael Jackson, Robin Williams, Whitney Houston. Those who attain it all have the riches and fame and glory, anything they could ever dream of, and still have no peace, no fulfillment, and no contentment. These are the real tragedies when they realize the emptiness that they thought the things of the world could fill. 

Contentment is an elusive virtue. Godliness with contentment is great gain. So how can we possess it? Paul's going to tell us the only way to contentment in our text this morning. 

Let's look at Philippians 4 at verse 10. But I rejoiced in the Lord greatly, that now at last your care for me has flourished again, 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, and 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. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. 

I've given you three points on your outline this morning. First, care in Christ. Second, content in Christ. And third, confident in Christ. One thing we've seen in our study of Philippians and Ephesians is that Paul has one paramount truth for us to know and understand, and that is that this life, the Christian life, is defined by two words: in Christ. All that is and means to us, this defines us. We are in Christ. 

We will only find contentment in Christ. Well, first in our text, we see care in Christ. Paul says in verse 10, I rejoiced in the Lord greatly, that now at last your care for me has flourished again, though you surely did care, but you lacked opportunity. Now look at verse 14. He says, nevertheless, you have done well that you shared in my distress. 

Now you Philippians know also that in the beginning of the gospel when I departed for Macedonia, no church shared with me concerning giving and receiving but you only. For even in Thessalonica, you sent aid once and again for my necessities. Not that I seek the gift, but I seek the fruit that abounds to your account. 

Indeed, I have all and abound. I am full, having received from Epaphroditus the things sent from you, a sweet-smelling aroma and acceptable sacrifice, well-pleasing to God. And my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus. 

If we're going to be content in Christ, we must all have the same mind, the same goal, the same passion. And that must be centered on knowing Jesus and making him known. The foundation for this unity is a heart and mind of service to God and to one another, caring for one another. 

Our education system, psychologists, the wisdom of the world, the advertisers, and now the influencers have convinced the past couple of generations that the purpose of life is to meet our needs. Maslow's hierarchy of needs, self-fulfillment, self-actualization. So our life is all about circumstances, meeting our needs, fulfilling our desires. 

But the Bible tells us that true meaning in life comes from our identity in Christ. The true purpose of life is to know God, to love God, and love men, to set our mind on eternal things and not on the things of the earth, to esteem others greater than ourselves, to seek to meet their needs and not just our own. The thinking of the world, so often our thinking, is completely upside down. 

Paul's life and joy was clearly completely independent of his circumstances. If his joy or peace or contentment was at all related to his circumstances, then these things surely would have been lost to him. Even as he writes the words before us, he is sitting chained to a Roman soldier, imprisoned in a small house in Rome, awaiting the decision of Nero whether he shall live or die. 

Circumstances are not the issue if our focus is on Jesus and caring for one another. God intends for the body of Christ to be one, to be working together toward the common goal of Christlikeness and witness, to be encouraging and strengthening one another. 

In Ephesians 4, we know this passage very well. 4:11, he says he gave some to be prophets and some apostles, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ till we all come to the unity of the faith and the knowledge of the Son of God to a perfect or mature man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ that we should no longer be children tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine by the trickery of men and the cunning craftiness and deceitful plotting. 

But speaking the truth in love may grow up in all things into him who is the head, Christ, from whom the whole body joined and knit together by what every joint supplies according to the effective working by which every part does its share causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love. Care in Christ for one another. 

The believers in Philippi were anxious to help Paul. Now, it had been nearly 10 years since he founded that church, since they had given him a gift when he was in Thessalonica founding the church there. Paul notes that their desire had not waned, but they had lacked opportunity to help him further. Perhaps they didn't know how to find him or what was going on. He was traveling on his missionary journeys. 

You think about how Paul would send Timothy with a letter way across country just to let the believers know how he was doing and what was going on. It wasn't like they could text each other in those days. So they lacked opportunity, but they loved him. Their desire was for his great work in the Lord. They wanted to help him. They wanted to encourage him. 

So they sent Epaphroditus with perhaps clothing, or parchments and pen, or perhaps money, whatever it was that he had need of. Paul was so grateful. He was so encouraged, not so much that his need was met, for he knew that God would meet his needs, but that the believers were used by God to do this, that they had this desire and for the fruit that God produced through them. 

It's real joy for me, for us, as the believers of Living Hope Church, to send money to Philip and Stephens in India because we know of their work for the Lord. We know of their faithfulness, their great common desire with us to reach the people of India with the gospel. I just talked to Philip and Stephens this week on FaceTime, and it was so good to hear of their plans to print literally millions of tracts and a solid plan with faithful workers to distribute those tracts to those in cities and villages and all around in their communities. 

I've been there and done that with them, face-to-face, hand-to-hand. They give out millions of tracts, as well as meeting the needs of orphans and the socially neglected, telling them the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ. It's a laser focus. 

Sometimes, I have occasion to speak with or spend time with men from other churches. So often, I hear about the busyness of their fellowship, the programs, the ministry, the meetings upon meetings. Quite honestly, I feel bad for pastors and elders sometimes who are overwhelmed with all the doings of a local church where godly men become administrators and suffer the constant drama of such endeavors. 

I'm so thankful for our body here, where the word is taught and preached, where the focus is on equipping saints to go out and do the work of ministry. I encourage you, I exhort you to be constantly looking to tell people about Jesus, to help and encourage them in any way you can, the people in your life that God has put in your path, your sphere of influence. 

We should be eager. We should be anxious, as the brothers and sisters in Philippi were to encourage and support the work of ministry in our communities as well as around the world. I don't know if I told you this before, but I think we just finished the finances for last year and we were over fifty, I think fifty-three percent went to missionaries of all the money we took in. I was talking to Mitch about that the other day. What's average, Mitch? Eight percent in evangelical churches? It's good what we're doing. It's good to further the gospel and to give to the faithful missionaries around the world. 

We think about the tremendous and continuous joy and peace that Paul had in all circumstances. The amazing fruit that God produced through his life in ministry in the profound and continual difficulties that he endured. We have to ask why? Why could Paul say, even as he sat in prison, I'm content in Christ? 

Turn over to Second Corinthians eleven with me more. We'll see that this was the norm and not this gives exception in Paul's life. Second Corinthians eleven twenty-two. In the context here, Paul is talking about false teachers who have infiltrated the church and are having an effect in Corinth. He says, are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they the seed of Abraham? So am I. Are they ministers of Christ? I speak as a fool; I am more. In labors more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequently, in deaths often. 

From the Jews five times I received forty stripes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked. A night and a day I have been in the deep. In journeys often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils of my own countrymen, perils of the Gentiles, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren, in weariness and toil and sleeplessness often, in hunger and thirst and fastings often, in cold and nakedness. 

Besides the other things, what comes upon me daily? My deep concern for all the churches. The Christian life was not comfortable and easy for Paul. He suffered and endured much, and yet he seemed to be constantly praising the Lord, encouraging the brethren, and reaching the lost. 

His life was lived for the glory of God. It was wonderful when things were good, when there was peace and in a full belly, and it was wonderful when he was beaten and stoned or left for dead, hungry or naked. It wasn't his circumstances that were wonderful; it was Jesus who was wonderful because he was content in Christ in the work that God had given him to do, in the ministry that he had, and he wanted to see the believers grow. That's why he says, I was not excited so much about the gift, but about the fruit—the fruit that I see out of your lives that God is producing. 

Verse eleven in our text: not that I speak in regard to need, for I've learned in whatever state I'm in 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. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. I want you to observe the Paul says I have learned. 

I have learned. Weest makes this comment: the words "have learned" are in a construction in the Greek which speaks of entrance into a new condition. It is, I have come to learn. Paul had not always known that he had been reared in the lap of luxury and had never known want as a young man. It was through the course of conversion, of service, and witness, and struggle, and suffering, and living, seeing the providence and provision of God that Paul had learned, had come to learn, entered a new condition in his thinking, in his heart and mind, to be content. 

This word "content" is one used by the Stoic philosophers meaning independent of circumstances or outside forces. It literally means self-sufficient, but we see Paul use this word a little differently here. The word "content" here in the context means to have Christ's sufficiency. I can do all things. What does that mean? 

I mean, I went to a volleyball game; I can do all things. That is, I can endure all circumstances in this life through Christ who is my strength and my sufficiency. In Second Corinthians three, Paul says this about the new covenant Christian life: he says, we have such trust through Christ toward God, not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God who also made us sufficient as ministers of the new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit, for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.

What has Paul learned? He has learned by experience and believes with a firm conviction that God will accomplish his will. He believes in the providence and provision of God. I believe this is the key to contentment—to living apart from your circumstances rather than dependent on them. Your life can be not about meeting your own needs but meeting the needs of others, looking to serve one another, to live for Christ. 

Paul was convinced that God would work out his will in his life and make every necessary provision to accomplish that will, so he was not worried about the circumstances of his life. He believed in the providence of God. We see this back in chapter one of Philippians at chapter one, verse twelve. He says, I want you to know, brethren, because remember the believers there were concerned about Paul because they heard that he was arrested and he was in prison. So they were concerned about him. He says, I want you to know, brethren, that the things which happen to me have actually turned out for the furtherance of the gospel. 

Today we might not be that excited about that sometimes, right? I'm still in prison; it's bad and the food's bad and no plan; God changed. But his whole life was about the furtherance of the gospel. You see, it wasn't about his circumstances. So if the gospel was being furthered, then he was rejoicing; he was happy regardless of what circumstance he found himself in. 

He says it has actually turned out for the furtherance of the gospel so that it has become evident to the whole palace guard and to all the rest that my chains are in Christ. Most of the brethren in the Lord, having become confident by my chains, are much more bold to speak the word without fear. It's another good effect of his circumstance: others are speaking the word without fear. 

Some indeed preach Christ even from envy and strife, some also from goodwill. The former preach Christ from selfish ambition, not sincerely, supposing to add affliction to my chains, but the latter out of love, knowing that I am appointed for the defense of the gospel. He rejoiced either way that Christ was preached because that's what his life was about. 

The beatings, the stonings, the persecution of the Jews, the imprisonment, the hunger, nakedness, peril, even in times of plenty—these were not the issue. The greatness of God, the power of God, the resurrection life, the grace of God, and the unstoppable will and purpose of the God of the universe—this was the issue for Paul, and he just wanted to be part of that. He wanted to be a servant to God. He wanted to see fruit among the believers in the churches he founded, and he wanted the gospel to be furthered and men to be saved. 

The sovereignty and providence of our Lord Jesus Christ, His life and power working in and through us, His plan, His promise—these are the things that ruled the heart and mind of Paul and should rule our hearts and minds as well so that we say, what can man do to me? What can man do to thwart the will and purpose of God? My concern and pursuit in this life should not be my needs and my circumstances but to be faithful today, to seek Jesus and His will, to love and encourage the brethren so that we might see fruit that brings glory to God. 

I can do all things; I can endure all circumstances through the strength and provision that Jesus supplies. I can trust Him no matter what; His grace is sufficient. This is how Paul thought; this is how Paul lived, and this is his example to us. Paul understood what it means to be in Christ, and he wants us to understand this as well, to take it for ourselves, to live in light of these truths. 

I want to go back to Ephesians to the two prayers for believers that Paul gives in the book of Ephesians, and I want you to follow along with me in your Bible and really soak in these words, these great truths. 

Take them for yourself. Learn to find your sufficiency in Christ alone. Ephesians one at verse fifteen, Paul’s first prayer: he says, therefore, I also after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe according to the working of His mighty power which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places far above all principality and power and might and dominion and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come. 

And He put all things under His feet and gave Him to be head over all things to the church which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all and in all. 

I don’t think we really grasp who God is and who we are and what we have in Him. He says that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe. The very power that raised Jesus from the dead is at work in you, my brother, my sister, to accomplish God's will. 

God is sovereign. He's in control of every force and power in this creation. He is able; He is willing; He is faithful to work out His will in our lives as we abide in Him, as we believe Him, as we are content in Christ. 

You see, if you are content in Christ, if He is your sufficiency, then nothing can shake you, nothing can move you because He will never leave you or forsake you. You have Jesus; He lives in you forever, and He will come and take you to be with Him for eternity. You can be content with what you have because you have Jesus. Nothing can separate us from Him, from His love and grace, and nothing can stop His purpose and plan for us in Him. 

The second prayer that we find in Ephesians is in chapter three at verse fourteen: Ephesians 3:14: for this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that He would grant you according to the riches of His glory to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, that you being rooted and grounded in love may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height, to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. 

Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen. 

The Holy Spirit lives in us and imparts strength to our inner man. Jesus lives in and through us as He settles down, is at home and fully functional through our lives for His purpose. It is God who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we can ask or think according to the power that works in us for His glory in the church. 

My brothers and sisters, what do we have to fear? Only losing the things of this world, the carnal desires we have, the comfortable life in easy circumstances that we tend to want so much. But if our sufficiency, our contentment is found in Christ, and our greatest desire and joy is to live for Him, to see Him glorified and the fruit of His life and power in us, then no circumstance, good or bad, can affect these things or can stand in the way of our contentment. 

Paul says, I have learned in whatever circumstances I find myself to be content in Christ, to find my sufficiency in Him. 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. 

It's my observation and experience that it's very difficult for those who have so much as we do to learn to be content in Christ and to find our sufficiency in Him. When I was in India, I saw unbelievable poverty: slum dwellers, leper colonies, the masses of untouchables who were of the low caste. Such a different culture, attitude, religion—no value of human life. Millions upon millions living in slums. 

As we flew into Chennai, a guy says, look down there, and you look out the window—shacks of tin as far as you could see. Not as nice as the houses I build for my hogs. And in the midst of all this, we met believers. Believers in Jesus Christ. They had very little to nothing. Several members of an extended family living in a little hut or block house about the size of a storage shed where we would store our excess belongings. 

No electricity, no running water, a little place for a fire on the floor to cook on, sleeping on the floor on little cots—grandma and grandpa and mom and dad and all the kids. And you know what? Those that we met that believed Jesus were so filled with joy, so content in Christ, so thankful to be saved, to have each other, so anxious to talk about Jesus, to praise and worship, and rejoice in the Lord. It was amazing to see. 

I remember one lady in a leper colony where I preached in Living Hope Church, a new church they had just built that we funded in this community. She had glasses thicker than I had ever seen. Her fingers were rubbed away and most of her nose. She was so happy to meet us—just this little tiny old woman, afflicted with leprosy for several years. And what an encouragement she was to everyone she met, including me. 

So full of joy and praise. So thankful to be in Christ, to know Him, and so full of love for God and man. What a special lady—living in a leper colony with no possessions in the world, but possessing all the spiritual blessings of the heavenlies in Christ. 

I think it's very difficult for us with so many material blessings and insane wealth to the point of absolute distraction in the pursuit of more and more to learn to find our sufficiency and contentment in Christ. Paul said, whether I am abased or abound, I have learned to be content in Christ. 

I have not been abased, hungry, naked, suffering. I can only speak to abounding, overwhelmed with blessing, materially, obscenely rich as compared with so many of our brothers and sisters in the world. But I believe it's very difficult for us to be content in Christ and find our sufficiency in Jesus alone. 

Thus, our circumstances tend to rule our joy and our peace. We give up the truly abundant life in search of the illusion of happiness. Paul made tents to support himself and give to those who had need, but we could hardly look at Paul's life and say his life was tent making. For to him, to live is Christ, and thus his contentment was in Christ. 

He knew and believed that his sufficiency was in Christ and that Christ was sovereign over all things and would accomplish His will through Paul. His care for others was in Christ, his contentment was fully in Christ, and his confidence was in Christ alone. 

I rejoiced in the Lord greatly that now at last your care for me has flourished again, 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'm in 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. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. 

Second Corinthians 3, again, we have such trust through Christ toward God. We are not sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God. One more passage—Second Corinthians 12:8. He says, concerning this thing, the thorn in the flesh, I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me, and He said to me, My grace is sufficient for you, My strength is made perfect in weakness. 

Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake, for when I am weak, then I am strong. 

We learn, my brothers and sisters, to find our sufficiency, our contentment in Christ when we learn that His grace is sufficient in every circumstance, that His power is working in me, that His purpose is always for my good. 

It doesn't matter what I have in this world, what difficulties come upon me, or if I live in relative ease and comfort—praise the Lord for that, right? He gives us all things richly to enjoy. The truth is that Jesus is all I really have, but the learning is in this: Jesus is all I need. He is sufficient. 

Let's close in prayer. 

Father, we thank You for Paul's life, his words, his example to us. We're so thankful that Jesus is our life, he's our peace, he's our joy, he's our hope. Thankful that we can know him by faith alone. Thank You that Your grace is ever-present, super-abounding in our lives, and that Your plan and purpose will be worked out. Help us to just look to You, to believe You, to trust You, to find our sufficiency in You, and to do the work that You have for us to do by Your grace and power. 

Help us to understand what really matters, not to be caught up and tossed to and fro by all the cares of this world, but to turn our eyes on Jesus, to live for Him, to let Him be our life, and whether we live or die, that He might be glorified in all that we do. In Jesus' name, Amen.