Content Yet Still Wanting - Lesson 1 - Introduction

Philippians 4:12, ‘I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need.’

How well do you balance being content and still desiring more?
Have you ever really gone without?
Do you trust Him to provide all your wants?
All of your needs?
All that you deserve?

Let’s search the scriptures together as God teaches us
To bear prosperity with meekness,
And adversity with contentment.

Opening thoughts…





You say, "If I had a little more, I should be very satisfied." You make a mistake. If you are not content with what you have, you would not be satisfied if it were doubled. -Spurgeon

Let’s review some areas of discontentment:
What would you want more of,
Will that truly make you more content?





With Godliness is Great Gain

Psalm 37:16, ‘A little that a righteous man hath is better than the riches of many wicked.’

Help us to understand the price of something verses the value of an item…





1Timothy 6:6-8, ‘But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. And having food and raiment let us be therewith content.’

It appears raiment can be used to describe clothing.
It also appears it can be used to describe covering,
That leaves it open for debate that a house is covering
And we are promised a house or a place to live.

We are not content with the necessities,
We need the little extras
Possibly even the luxury items.
We tell our children that they don’t need to have stuff to impress their friends.

Do we take that advice or are we trying to impress someone other than the Lord?





We Should Exhibit Contentment in our Respective Callings

Anything but that,
That’s not in my job description,

1Corinthians 7:20, ‘Let every man abide in the same calling wherein he was called.’

Eph 4:1, ‘… that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called…’

What advice do you have for that person who argues with God
over what they are asked (or told) to do?





We Should Show Contentment with Appointed Wages

Everyone can do your job better.
Just like you can do everyone’s job better than them.
I know aids complain about LPN’s.
LPN’s about RN’s.
And RN’s about Doctors.

The same is true in the plumbing field as
As it is also in husband and wife relations.
I am sure it is in the restaurant and mortgage business.

Luke 3:14, ‘And the soldiers likewise demanded of him, saying, And what shall we do? And he said unto them, Do violence to no man, neither accuse any falsely; and be content with your wages.’

How content are you with your wages?

If there is any level of discontent, whom is it directed at?
Does that mean that you don’t trust God…





Let’s think of the term wages to mean,
Compensation for your services.
Now let’s look at your reward for your husbandly duties.
Or your reward for your wifely duties.

Here it says we are to be content with your wages.
My question again

How content are you with your wages?

Do you then blame God for any lack of compensation?





We should display contentment with what things we have

Hebrews 13:5, ‘Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.’

In the beginning I asked it in a rhetorical sense I am asking it for real here…
Have you ever really gone without?





The Wicked Want Contentment

Isaiah 5:8, ‘Woe unto them that join house to house, that lay field to field, till there be no place, that they may be placed alone in the midst of the earth!’

Some people look for happiness with world domination as it appears in this verse here.
Where do we look for happiness?
Or contentment.

Is it truly in doing what the Lord asks and resting in that fact?
Or are we as bad as the world
In looking for our contentment in the applause of others.

My question to you is…
How are we any different than the world in looking for contentment?





Two sayings for you to consider:
Flowers bloom where you plant them and
The grass is always greener over the septic tank.


Ecclesiastes 5:10, ‘He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver; nor he that loveth abundance with increase: this is also vanity.’

Your closing thoughts…





Conclusion

Here is my desire for us over the next few month,
That we can truly say and mean that
God has taught us to bear prosperity with meekness,
and adversity with contentment.

During this process I want us to remember…

We are not to give thanks for our struggles.
We are to give thanks in our struggles
During our struggles.

I believe when we are truly content with what is measured out to us
We will be allowed to enter the next phase of our growth.
The next phase of our walk.

To be discontent is to doubt god.
To manipulate the outcome
Consequences or rewards of others or situations
Is also to doubt God.

I don’t like when my children doubt me
So I can only imagine how a perfect father feels when His children doubt Him.

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