Think of the last movie you watched or book you read. Would you describe the main character as content? What about them made you describe them that way?
What are some things in your life that you are not content with?
On Sunday, we read the words of Paul, who had been through a LOT of bad stuff… After his rejection by his own people, the Jews, after the beatings, after the imprisonments, throughout the loneliness, the hunger, and the pain, Pau says this:
Philippians 4:11 (NLT)
I have learned how to be content with whatever I have.
Do you think this was easy for Paul? Do you think it came naturally?
Compared to Paul’s circumstances, most of us have life pretty easy, don’t we? So, why do we find it so difficult to be content?
Paul “learned the secret” of contentment, (Philippians 4:12) and he didn’t want it to stay a secret. In fact, he wrote this letter to the church to help them explore that very secret! Here is how he puts it:
Philippians 2:14–15 (NLT)
Do everything without complaining and arguing…
Okay.. Can we stop right here for a second? I know I struggle with this, and I bet you do, also. I know… Because I hear it ALL THE TIME. I hear it from myself, and I hear it from seemingly everyone around me. Why are we who should be “full of joy,” and who should “shine like the sun” so quick to go negative?
(Wait, what? You aren’t negative? Okay… What were the last three things you said about politics, the weather, the holidays, and traffic?)
As a group, what can we do for each other about this?
Let’s go back to what Paul, the beaten, the imprisoned, the rejected says:
Philippians 1:27 (NLT)
Above all, you must live as citizens of heaven, conducting yourselves in a manner worthy of the Good News about Christ.
Describe that.
Is that us?
Philippians 2:14–15 (NLT)
Do everything without complaining and arguing, so that no one can criticize you. Live clean, innocent lives as children of God, shining like bright lights in a world full of crooked and perverse people.
Paul tells us that there is a PURPOSE for our being positive, rather than negative… He wants no one to be able to criticize our attitudes. How does that last statement clarify our purpose in this dark, cynical, negative, politically polarized world?
How does our negativity undermine our purpose, dimming our light?
According to Paul, there is only one way to accomplish this… What is it? (see verse 16, below.)
Philippians 2:16 (NLT)
Hold firmly to the word of life; then, on the day of Christ’s return, I will be proud that I did not run the race in vain and that my work was not useless.
It is easy for us to jump to the conclusion that the “word of life” is the Bible… But don’t forget… These people did not have a Bible. There literally wasn’t one yet. So, what is the “word of life?”
I think Paul describes this “word of life” as he writes to the church in Corinth:
1 Corinthians 15:1–4 (NLT)
Let me now remind you, dear brothers and sisters, of the Good News I preached to you before. You welcomed it then, and you still stand firm in it. It is this Good News that saves you if you continue to believe the message I told you—unless, of course, you believed something that was never true in the first place.
I passed on to you what was most important and what had also been passed on to me. Christ died for our sins, just as the Scriptures said. He was buried, and he was raised from the dead on the third day, just as the Scriptures said.
For Paul, the “word of life” is the gospel. Literally, the Good News of Jesus for us. Paul is showing us how the gospel transforms our very attitudes and changes the way we see and approach life.
It sure changed Paul, didn’t it? Because of the gospel, Paul was able to be content.
Philippians 4:12-13 (NLT)
I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything. I have learned the secret of living in every situation, whether it is with a full stomach or empty, with plenty or little. For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength.
What do you and I need to do during this holiday season to be reminded of who we are, and how we should live in a manner worthy?