Be Content with What You Have
Philippians 4:10-13, 19
Intro
Today I want to look at money and some principles in the Scriptures which God has prescribed for us and to help us live a healthy economical lifestyle.
I remember when I first came to Canada in 1960 at the age of 6 from São Miguel. We lived in an old farm house just outside the small town of Burford, Ontario. We had no plumbing and central heating except for a little oil stove that heated the whole house. I tell you, we were so cold in winter that I could see my breath while lying in bed for a night’s sleep. We also didn’t have hot running water because we had no plumbing. All we had was a hand pump for water in the Kitchen. My mom had to heat the water on a wood burning stove where she did all her cooking. She would pour the hot water into a two foot square zinc tub where we took turns and shared the same water. But, you know, we were happy to be in a country where we had more than the previous country we had come from. At least we had water in the house, electrical power and my dad had an automobile which was better than a horse and wagon. Yes, I’m talking about 1960 and we were happy and grateful.
Immanuel Kant once said, “A man is rich not by what he owns but by what he can do without.”
The Obsession with Money
The world has a tremendous preoccupation and obsession with money. People steal it, kill for it, embezzle it, cheat for it and work relentlessly for it. The Bible says that the love of money is the root of all evil (1 Tim. 6:10).
The origin of money is a mystery to most people. In the primitive times there was no money. People engaged in the barter system, where they exchanged merchandise for merchandise. Throughout time currency was invented and used for the purchase of goods and eventually most civilizations developed their denominations of money.
Money is something we receive as wages and in turn spend on food, clothing, transportation, shelter and recreation. Needless to say a sizeable portion goes toward taxes. OUCH!
To most people money consists of pieces of paper (now plastic) printed in numerous denominations with pictures of various famous people. The power to create money and to regulate its quantity and value is the power to control the life of a nation.
If there is too much money prices rise – which is inflation. Inflation then causes interest rates to rise and the value of savings is hampered. If there is not enough money, the economy can go into a recession or collapse. Debts cannot be paid. Workers are laid off, construction and retail slows down. This often leads to loss of business or property.
But the Bible has a lot to say about money issues and economical problems. It starts at the grassroots level. It’s how people view money and their attitude toward it.
How People View Money
Many view money as a right. They say, “I deserve this,” “it’s my life,” “this is why I work hard,” “we only live once,”and then the common view about money and over spending,“it’s just money, and money cannot buy happiness.” Money can be an idol and some people steal and at times kill for it.
The 10 Commandments teaches that:
Exodus 20:3 “You shall have no other gods before me.”
Exodus 20:15 “You shall not steal” (Eph. 4:28).
Exodus 20:17 “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house or anything that belongs to your neighbour.”
Also in Jeremiah 17:11we read, “Like a partridge that hatches eggs it did not lay is the man who gains riches by unjust means. When his life is half gone, they will dessert him and in the end he will prove he is a fool.”
I think one of the worse attitudes or view of money is greed.
In Luke 12 Jesus teaches about a parable of a rich greedy foolish man who amassed huge revenues of crops and decided to live it up and party. In Luke 12:15 Jesus warns, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.” And later in verses 20 and 21 Jesus continues to say, “But God said to him, ‘You fool!This very night your life will be demanded from you.Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself? “This is how it will be with whoever stores up things for themselves but is not rich toward God.”
Illustration Story. I would like to share with you a similar story that happened in the mid 1900’s.
Homer and Langley Collyer were sons of a respected N.Y. doctor. Both had earned college degrees. When their father Dr. Collyer died, his sons inherited the family home and estate. The two men, both bachelors, were financially secure. But the Collyer brothers chose a peculiar lifestyle not consistent with the material status their inheritance gave them. They lived in almost total seclusion. They boarded up the windows and padlocked the doors of their house. All their utilities- including water were shut off. No one was ever seen coming or going from the house.
On March 21, 1947 police received an anonymous telephone tip that a man had died inside the boarded up house. Police couldn’t force their way through the front door but entered the house through a 2nd story window. Inside they found Homer Collyer’s dead body on a bed. He had died clutching the Feb. 22nd, 1920 issue of the Morning Journal, though he had been blind for years. This scene was set against an equally grotesque backdrop. It seems the brothers were collectors and collected everything- especially junk.
Their house was crammed full of broken machinery, auto parts, boxes, appliances, folding chairs, musical instruments, rags , assorted odds and ends and bundles of old newspapers. Everything they had collected was worthless! An enormous mountain of debris blocked the front door. The investigators were forced to continue using the upstairs window for weeks while excavators worked to clear the door.
Nearly three weeks later as workmen were still handling heaps of refuse away, someone made a grisly discovery. Langley Collyer’s body was buried beneath a pile of rubbish some 6 feet away from where Homer had died. Langley had been crushed to death in a crude booby trap he had built to protect his precious collection from thieves. The garbage removed from the Collyer house totaled more than a hundred and forty tons.
No one even learned why the brothers were stock piling their pathetic treasure. Homer and Langley Collier make a sad but fitting parable of the way many people live, or Christians live.
Although the Collyer’s inheritance was sufficient for all their needs they lived their lives in unnecessary self imposed deprivation. Neglecting abundant resources that were rightfully theirs to enjoy Homer and Langley instead turned their home into a dump and lived in misery.
Jesus said that our life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions (Luke 12:15).
Sometimes people scour the wreckage of worldly wisdom, collecting litter. They spend their lives pointlessly accumulating sensational experience, clever gurus, or whatever else they can find to add to their hoard of spiritual experiences. Others collect material objects, insignificant things which in the end are worthless. Just like the Collyers everything they had collected in the end was worthless.
We need to be careful how we view money and not idolize it or be obsessed with it and in the end allow it to control us.
We Need to Learn to be Content
Notice what the Apostle Paul says in Philippians 4:11-12, “…for I have learned to be contentwhatever 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.”
Notice he said he learned. That means it took time and it didn’t happen overnight. Also it doesn’t come to us naturally because we have to learn. It’s something that we are not born with. Human nature is very selfish and we want everything and insist on what we deserve. Therefore we complain and grumble if we don’t get it.
So how do we learn to be content with what we have?
What We Need To Learn and Practice
1/ First seek the kingdom of God.
In Matthew 6:33-34 Jesus says, “But seek first his kingdomand his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”
Basically Christ is telling us to go after first the things pertains to God’s kingdom and to live a moral upright life and if we do that God himself will supply what we need – not what we want.
2/ Learn to trust God
We are taught in Proverbs 3:5-6 to completely trust God. It says, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding in all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight.”
God takes care of us. In 1 Peter 5:7 it says, “Cast all your anxiety on himbecause he cares for you.”
3/ Learn to manage your money and stuff
In Proverbs 21:5 we read, “The plans of the diligent lead to profit as surely as haste leads to poverty.”
Basically setup a budget and follow it diligently. Don’t live beyond your means.
It’s like the story of the man who bought a cat to protect his clothes from the rats, and to feed the cat he bought a few cows to give milk to the cat. Then he had to build a barn to keep the cows. The he hired a man to take care of the barn, the cow and the cat because he didn’t have enough time to care for them.
Also we read in Proverbs 13:11, “…he who gathers money little by little makes it grow.” So don’t be wasteful, manage your money little by little and it will grow.
Conclusion
In Philippians 4:12 Paul says that, “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.” What is that secret? It’s found in the following verse, Philippians 4:13, “I can do everything through him (Christ) who gives me strength.”
No matter how difficult Paul’s struggles may have been he had a spiritual undergirding and power. He said “I can do all things.” That phrase “I can do” means to be strong, to have resources. Paul doesn’t mean that he could physically survive indefinitely without food, water, sleep or shelter. What he is saying is that when he reached the limit of his strength, even to the point of death, he was infused with the strength of Christ. He could overcome the most dire physical difficulties because of the inner, spiritual strength Christ had given him.
There you have it! The secret of being content no matter the situation is found in Christ and His power.
Look at what Paul says later toward the end of this passage. In Philippians 4:19 he says, “And my God will meet all your needsaccording to the riches of his gloryin Christ Jesus.”
Listen folks, God will meet ALL YOUR NEEDS (not wants) according to the riches of his glory in Christ! WOW!
Don’t worry. Learn to be content in what you have…what you have in Christ, not what you have in the world.
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