I rejoiced greatly in the Lord that at last you renewed your concern for me. Indeed, you were concerned, but you had no opportunity to show it. I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do all this through him who gives me strength.
Philippians 4:10-13 - NIV
In my previous post I wrote about how do we as pastors measure success. A lot of times success breeds contentment. We get gratification when a large crowd attends church or we have good numbers at bible study. Our vacation bible school does really well or the revival we had went great. What happens when things go sideways in our ministry?
Think of what C-19 has done to the church over the last two years. It has devastated it. I never dreamed that the church would fall so low like this… and yet here we are. Content? Hardly.
Relationships have/are strained or broken. Church attendance is spotty at best. A handful of churches are doing small VBS’s and you can forget about revival services. They are dead.
People have lost jobs, businesses have closed, churches have closed, and more pastors have quit/retired over the past two years than in the last ten. We (pastors) have been put through the ringer through the pandemic. I’ve read and listened to church horror stories about how congregations were just blaming their pastors in frustration for their churches demise due to C-19. Not only blaming them but in some cases firing them. I feel sorry for whoever comes after those guys. That’s a bloodbath waiting to happen.
And that was just C-19. There are plenty of other pressures in life that people are/have been dealing with before the pandemic came along.
All of a sudden we find ourselves getting closer to Christ because our lives are falling apart. We start attending church more, we go to the midweek service/bible study more, we pray more and we read our bibles more. We make promises to The Lord knowing that we really don’t intend to keep them. We just want Him to fix everything. The point: we only find contentment in The Lord when we are in a crisis. When The Lord provides and life gets back on track what then? We tend to fall back into Sunday morning mode. Jesus gets put back into the 11AM worship hour box.
We all do it. We find our satisfaction in normal not Jesus.
Content? Hardly.
The Apostle Paul knew what the good life was as a Pharisee. He wasn’t lacking for shelter or food or clothes or water or… you get the idea. Then Christ saved Paul and he suffered for the gospel.
I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty.
Philippians 4:12a
Paul was dependent on The Lord to provide for his needs. He kept his focus on what mattered most - Jesus Christ. I’m not saying that he did this perfectly, I know that he struggled in sin. Go and read Romans 7 & 8 and 2nd Corinthians 12:7-9 to see how he struggled. In his fight with sin Paul understood what Christ had accomplished on the cross. He focused on that truth, the truth of Christ. (Romans 5:1-11)
I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.
Philippians 4:12b
Paul learned the secret of being content no matter his circumstances. Jesus.
I can do everything through him who gives me strength.
Philippians 4:13
Jesus gave him the strength to live in and through every situation in life.
Circumstances do not matter with Christ. Read that again.
Let me encourage you to focus on the finished work of Jesus. To be content in Christ. When we chase “church stuff” or the things of this world that we justify in the name of serving Christ we will be empty.
Content? Hardly.
Simple, divine grace. Amen. May we encourage each other in this power.