THE SECRET OF CONTENTMENT

(Hebrews 13: 5, 6)
Message by Pastor Lee Kuan Ming on 29 July 2000

HEBREWS 13:5,6

Keep your live free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you”. So we say with confidence, “The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid what can man do to me?”
In Hebrews 12:28 we are exhorted to worship and serve God acceptably. A life of contentment is a life of worshiping and serving God acceptably. In Hebrews 13:5,6 we learn the secret of living a life of complete contentment and satisfaction.

WHAT IS CHRISTIAN CONTENTMENT?

The Greek word for contentment is ‘autarkeia’. ‘Auto’ means self and ‘arkeia’ means sufficiency. So, ‘autarkeia’ means self-sufficiency. Now, there is a difference between the self-sufficiency of the world and the contentment the Bible is speaking about. Buddhism teaches us that self-sufficiency is developed by suppressing all human desires. Stoicism of ancient times taught that people possessed an intrinsic ability to resist all external pressures and thus experience ‘autarkeia’, or self-sufficiency. Such Stoic self-sufficiency was really a self-created contentment.

Christian contentment is not self-created nor is it self-sufficiency. It is the sufficiency of the Lord, which is appropriated by God’s people. I would like to share three points from this text.

I. CHRISTIANS AVOID COVETOUSNESS
“Keep your lives free from the love of money”.

A Christian should be characterized by contentment. The New English Bible translates this verse in this way: “Don’t live for money”. Our lives, our attitudes, our actions, and our desires must be free of covetousness, greed and the love of money.

In the Old Testament the tenth commandment forbids all coveting. And in Colossians 3:5 the apostle Paul gives us the insight that covetousness is really idolatry. A covetous man is one who has no interest in God. He is an earthly man, a worldly man and an earth-dweller.

i). The Deceitfulness of Riches

Why do people seek after money so earnestly? Wealth promises to make us happy and satisfied. So people work hard to obtain it by hook or by crook, by capitalism or socialism. Yet when they have obtained as much as they can, they are not happy. In fact, many people become more miserable than they were originally. Why do you think that happens? Their money deceived them. The Bible mentions this, warning us against the deceitfulness of riches.

Through television many of us were able to observe the wedding, the divorce and the death of England’s Princess Diana, who died as a young person. She had everything: Beauty, fame, power, connections, royalty and wealth; yet she was one of the most unhappy human beings. It is all vanity, as the writer of Ecclesiastes reminds us.

Rich and poor alike are deceived by this idea that more money will bring greater happiness. They are always looking for one more dollar, or one hundred more dollars, one thousand more dollars, one million more dollars, one billion more dollars, and so on. They think more is better.

ii). We All Covet

In Isaiah 14:13-15, we notice covetousness, ore discontentment, even in angels (Lucifer) who were created upright.
In 1 kings 21, we read about a king named Ahab. King Ahab had all he could need – lands, vineyards, buildings, gold and silver. He had great possessions and power, and yet he was unhappy. Ahab wanted to get a plot of land that belonged to a man named Naboth, and he was miserable until he obtained it, even though to obtain it meant killing Naboth.

In Matt. 26:14 Judas Iscariot enjoyed the wonderful privilege of walking with Jesus Christ – living with him, eating with him, and seeing him perform wonderful miracles. I am sure that Judas himself even preached the gospel and performed miracles along with other apostles. But Judas was unhappy with his lot, and so he sold Jesus Christ for thirty pieces of silver. I am sure he thought a little more money would make him happier, but apparently it didn’t. Judas returned the money and hanged himself.

iii). The Problems of Wealth

• Can cause us to be cut off from God. (Matt. 13:22)
• Wealth can also cause us to become arrogant. (1 Timothy 6:17)
• Another problem of money is its uncertainty. (Proverbs 23:5)
• Wealth can make a person an apostate. (1 Timothy 6:10)
• The good life does not depend on money alone. (Luke 12:15)

In Luke 12:15 Jesus said, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man’s life does not consist in abundance of possessions”. The definition of a truly good life does not mean living maximum money. What, then, is a good life? It is a life that is vitally connected to God. A good life is a life of rest in God.

II. CHRISTIANS ENJOY CONTENTMENT

“Be content with what you have.” (Heb. 13:5)

i. We must be content with what we have!

You may have only very little say, five loaves and a few small fish – but that is all right. Your little with God equals satisfaction. You may have only water, but your water with the Lord Jesus Christ becomes great, satisfying wine. The widow of Zarephath had very little, but her very little with God gave satisfaction for many, many days. (1 Kings 17:10-16)

Only a Christians is truly self-sufficient, and the secret of that sufficiency is that it is God-sufficiency.

Jesus offered this God-sufficiency to the Samaritan woman, telling her, “Whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” That is contentment. That is God-sufficiency.

A Christian’s contentment is independent of all external circumstances and conditions because he is vitally dependent on God alone.

This sufficiency is due to a Christian’s vital union with Jesus Christ. Remember how Jesus said in John 15, “I am the vine; you are the branches?” What else did he say: “Without money you can do nothing?” NO. That is a misunderstanding. What did Jesus really say? “Without me you can do nothing.” We can never be self-sufficient outside of Christ.

The Example of Paul

In Phil. 4:12 we read “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 everything through him who gives me strength.” (Phil. 4:13) The Apostle Paul understood the union between himself and Christ, and he practiced this self-sufficiency and contentment.

Now, Paul was in prison when he wrote this. How could he say he was not in need? We must realize that this was not a gift he just received suddenly. It was a lesson he had to learn throughout his life. How did Paul learn this secret of contentment? In 2 Corinthian 12:9 we read, “But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness!”

ii. The Sufficiency of God’s Grace

Here, then, is the secret of a Christian’s contentment. In the midst of our problems, our difficult situations and conditions, what should we do? We should go to God and he will give us grace. And so in Phillipians 4:12 Paul wrote, “I know what it is to be abased,” meaning what it is to suffer hunger, pain, sorrow and so on, and what it is to abound. I know how to be content and self-sufficient in every and all situations and circumstances and conditions.

iii. God Stands With Us

In Hebrews 13:5 we read, “God has said, ‘Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.” In the thirteenth verse of Philippians 4 Paul says, “I can do everything through him who gives me strength,” meaning I am able to do all things, able to endure, to bear under, able to suffer in the one who continually enforces me.

Do you now see the secret of Christian contentment? It is in the One who enforces me. So you could translate this verse, “I can do all things through Him who enforces me.”

A Christian cannot do anything – he cannot be content, he cannot be self-sufficient without this secret, that God’s grace is sufficient and his power is made perfect in our weakness God is with us and understands our situation. He alone can enforce us and make us strong, and he does so, not once in a while, but continually.

In 2 Timothy 4:16-17, the Apostle Paul knew he was about to suffer martyrdom. In verse 16 he wrote, “At my first defense” – meaning when he stood before Caesar – “No one came to my support, but everyone deserted me.” You see, that is our problem. As Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones asks, what will we do when everything is stripped from us? What will we do when even our own spouse may tell us to curse God and die? As people living in modern society we are so dependent on all the technology and conveniences that we get upset even over a one-degree change in the thermostat setting. What will happen when everything is stripped from us? What will happen when we finally face death?

Paul was in the situation and he wrote, “At my first defense no one came to my support, but everyone deserted me. May it not be held against them. But the Lord stood at my side and gave me strength so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed and all the Gentiles might hear it.”

That is the secret of contentment: The Lord stands at our side. When that’s true, then we will be self-sufficient through God-sufficiency. God Himself will enforce us in every way-psychologically, mentally, and physically. Jesus gives us reinforcement.

Do You Have Christian Contentment?

In the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 6, Jesus Christ said our Heavenly Father will give us food and clothing. He understands that we have bodies, which need food and covering. We are told about a Heavenly Father who feeds the birds and clothes the lilies of the field in such marvelous ways.
And so there is the guarantee that our Heavenly Father knows what we need: “Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things shall be given you as well.”

So let me ask you: “What do you have?” I am sure you have that you have food and clothing. But what else do you have? The Lord. If you are a Christian, you have the Lord.

Now, if you are not a Christian you cannot enjoy this contentment, this happiness, this self-sufficiency unless you come to Him who calls you.
“Come unto me, all those who are weary, miserable, wretched, burdened slaves of sin. Come unto me and I will give you rest.” But if you are a Christian, you are told to be content with what you have. Why? It is what God gave you. God guarantee that He will give His people food and clothing.

Now, He gives generously to all the people of the world, but God has a special interest in His people. So with confidence you can say, “My lot is fallen in beautiful places. I have an interest in God and God is with me. He stands with me, He is for me, He is in me, He is before me, He is around me and He enforces me.” No wonder the Apostle Paul could say, “We rejoice in tribulations also!”

Therefore, may God help us to learn well the secret of contentment.

• Avoid covetousness.
• Be content with what you have.
• Know that God stands for you.

May we be content in Jesus Christ our Lord, both now and forevermore.