THE SECRET TO CONTENTMENT

Posted by Pastor Greg Allen on May 28, 2025 under AM Bible Study |

Wednesday AM Bible Study; May 28, 2025 from Philippians 4:10-13

Theme: Prevailing contentment comes by learning—in all things—to rest fully in Jesus Christ.

(All Scripture is taken from The New King James Version, unless otherwise indicated).

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The Book of Philippians is a wonderful book about experiencing the joy of Jesus Christ in everyday living. However, it would be important to remember that, while joy is its recurring theme, it was really intended as a ‘thank you’ letter.

Paul had been arrested and placed in a prison cell in Rome for preaching the gospel. And while there, his brothers and sisters at the church in Philippi had collected a special offering to help support him in his time of need. This was something that they had done for him at other times in his missionary work (Philippians 4:15-16). And now, they’re doing it once again in the difficult trial of his imprisonment. The gift had been brought to him by their representative and Paul’s dear co-worker Epaphroditus (v. 18). And so, just before Epaphroditus went back to Philippi, Paul was led by the Holy Spirit to write this letter as a way of expressing his appreciation for their gift of love. It’s a letter that has ministered a great blessing to God’s people ever since.

The ‘thank you’ portion of the letter begins in the latter half of Chapter 4 and continues to the end of the letter. But before he expresses his thanks directly, we find these words in Philippians 4:10-13;

But I rejoiced in the Lord greatly that now at last your care for me has flourished again; though you surely did care, but you lacked opportunity. Not that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content: I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me (Philippians 4:10-13).

It’s as if, before he expressed his sincere thanks for the gift that they sent to him, Paul wanted to let his brothers and sisters know that—in the end—he really didn’t feel that he needed it. Ordinarily, that would seem like a rude way to respond to a gift. But in keeping with this letter’s theme of joy, he was wanting to turn the reception of the gift into an important teaching opportunity. He had just finished telling them, “The things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do, and the God of peace will be with you” (v. 9). And he wanted to show them—through his own example—how they too could have the ongoing, prevailing, victorious sense of joyful contentment in life that he was experiencing when their gift arrived.

Paul had learned that the secret to contentment comes not through circumstances or through material provision but through a relationship with a wonderful Person. As these words show, prevailing contentment comes by learning—in all things—to rest fully in Jesus Christ.

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Now; a sense of contentment is something that all human beings everywhere genuinely need. To be ‘content’ is to have a sense of sufficiency and satisfaction—to have the sense that one’s needs are met and that one doesn’t need anything else. To some degree, we always live with at least a little bit of a sense of something we may need; but it’s terrible to live in a perpetual state of deep, internal discontent. People bring great harm to themselves and to others by trying to relieve their legitimate yearning for satisfaction in the wrong ways. They try to fill the void through things in this world that simply can’t satisfy the soul. And left still with that terrible feeling of unfulfillment through the things of this world, people try even harder to achieve that sense of contentment through false religions or false philosophies that give a false sense of ‘contentment’ that quickly fades away; or through the temporary sensation of ‘contentment’ that comes from drugs, or alcohol, or materialism or sensual gratification.

And yet, the Bible shows us the pathway to true contentment. In the New Testament, two basic words are used for the idea of contentment. The ordinary word would be the Greek word arkeō. It means ‘to be sufficient’ or ‘to be enough’. When the soldiers came to John the Baptist in the wilderness, this was the word that John used when he told them, “Do not intimidate anyone or accuse falsely, and be content with your wages” (Luke 3:14; emphasis added). He simply meant that they should be satisfied with the outward, temporal circumstance of what they received. But the word that the apostle Paul uses in our passage this morning is a compound word made by joining that word arkeō with the suffix autos, which means ‘self’. When you put them together, the compound word autarkēs means “to be sufficient or enough for one’s self”. And that’s the kind of contentment Paul was speaking of … and that we all truly need.

We shouldn’t understand Paul, by using this word, to be saying that he was ‘self-sufficient’. Rather, what he meant was that he had an inward sufficiency—an inward sense of ‘enough-ness’—that wasn’t dependent upon any external circumstance or any material provision. In fact, it’s a sense of inward satisfaction that was present and prevailing in him even in his condition of outward material need and when his surrounding circumstances were hard and unpleasant. There are two other places where this word autarkēs appears in the New Testament, and both of them are in Paul’s other letters. The first is in 2 Corinthians 9:6-8, when Paul wrote to the Corinthian believers about the importance of being generous in their giving. He encouraged them not to hold back—as if to say that they had no reason to be afraid of giving too generously. He told them:

But this I say: He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work (2 Corinthians 9:6-8; emphasis added).

That word “sufficiency” is the same compound word that is translated as “contentment” in Paul’s letter to the Philippians—a sufficiency within one’s self. And the other occurrence is in 1 Timothy 6:6-8. Paul wrote,

Now 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 clothing, with these we shall be content (1 Timothy 6:6-8; emphasis added).

The second use of the word ‘content’ in that passage is the word arkeō; which is the common word for ‘being sufficient’ or ‘having enough’. But the first word, ‘contentment’, is the stronger compound word autarkēs, which speaks of sufficiency and a sense of enoughness within one’s self—not in any way dependent upon the outward circumstances. It’s the kind of prevailing contentment that can only come to us as a gift of God’s grace through a dependent relationship with Jesus Christ. Only He can fully satisfy the deep yearning of the soul.

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So; how does Paul present this to his readers? As we look at this passage, we see how this contentment was affirmed (v. 10-11a), how it was developed (v. 11b), how it was experienced (v. 12), and how it was obtained (v. 13).

First, let’s consider …

1. HOW CONTENTMENT WAS AFFIRMED (v. 10-11a).

In verse 10, Paul wrote, “But I rejoiced in the Lord greatly that now at last your care for me has flourished again; though you surely did care, but you lacked opportunity.” As soon as Epaphroditus came to Paul with that generous gift from the Philippian believers, Paul’s heart was encouraged. In the original language, Paul uses a form of the verb that can be translated, “I was rejoiced …” Their generosity to him made him very happy; and from it, he knew that they loved him and cared about him. He also acknowledged that even though they had wanted to be a support to him in times past, they had not been able to. But now, their heartfelt concern for him “flourished” again. He put this in such a way as to say that, like a beautiful flower, their concern for him “blossomed” once more.

This displayed the wonderful quality in Paul of loving gratitude. The apostle was certainly not an ungrateful person. His heart was deeply moved by their love for him. In fact, he acknowledged where their generous concern came from when he said, “I rejoiced in the Lord greatly …” In verse 4, he called them to “rejoice in the Lord always”; and now, he was letting them know that he was doing just that very thing as a result of their gift—”rejoicing in the Lord” that the Lord Himself had moved upon their hearts to support him in his need.

But in verse 11, he added, “Not that I speak in regard to need …” He wanted them to know that the arrival of the gift didn’t cause him to rejoice simply because it provided material relief and only satisfied his outward needs. In fact, in verse 17, he told them, “Not that I seek the gift, but I seek the fruit that abounds to your account.” His true rejoicing was in the fact that the Lord Himself would reward their generosity far more than he ever could. But from his own sense of things, he didn’t ultimately need anything. He wanted them to know that he was content—deeply satisfied within himself regardless of the circumstances. And what’s more, he wanted them to experience that contentment, too.

So then; notice next in verse 11 …

2. HOW CONTENTMENT WAS DEVELOPED (v. 11b).

He said, “… for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content …” Paul’s experience of contentment didn’t show itself in him because he was just a naturally easy-going man who could take things as they came. Nor was the prevailing contentment that Paul exhibited—a contentment that stayed constant in all the various ‘ups’ and ‘downs’ of Paul’s amazing life—a result of his own sheer self-determination. He made it clear that he had to “learned” it through experience.

The word that Paul used in this affirmation was the same one that we find in verse 9 when he exhorted the Philippians to do the things they “learned” in him. It’s not the word for mere acquisition of information. It’s a word that speaks of learning something by way of doing, so that it becomes a part of one’s custom or habit. It had to be developed in him over time—that is, by the hard work of repeatedly taking his eyes off the things that are seen in terms of his circumstances, and placing them on the unseen realities that were his through Christ. It came by intentionally trusting Jesus in those circumstances. It came by doing what he himself described in verse 8;

… whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things (v. 8).

It ought to be a great encouragement for us to know that Paul was made out of the same fallible flesh and blood material that we’re made of. Such prevailing contentment in Christ—a contentment that stayed constant in all the various ‘ups’ and ‘downs’ of Paul’s amazing life—didn’t just ‘happen’ for him automatically. There was no magic formula for Paul’s contentment. He didn’t become content in whatever circumstances he was in as a result of some sudden ‘spiritual’ experience. It was an ‘acquired’ trait that became his in the same way it must become ours—and that is by learning it through practice. We need to ‘learn’ it in the same way he did.

But he did indeed learn it. And so, notice next …

3. HOW CONTENTMENT WAS EXPERIENCED (v. 12).

In verse 12—as a result of his growth in the ‘school of contentment’, he said, “I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need.”

Paul truly experienced it all. He had been “abased”—a word that was sometimes used to describe a river that was running low and dry. But he’d also “abounded”—just like a river that overflowed. He’d known what it felt like to have a belly that was full and satisfied, but also what it was like to be hungry and with no certainty where the next meal was coming from. He knew what it was like not only to have the bank account full, but also to be in a state of poverty. And yet, his sense of inner sufficiency remained unaffected by these changing circumstances. He had been trained by hard trial how to “be” all these things—whatever those things may be.

Most of us have learned something of what it’s like to be either one or the other of those things—prosperous or poor; full or empty; abounding or abased. In fact, some of us are comfortable with having little, but not comfortable with having much; and some of us are comfortable with having much, but not comfortable with having little. But few of us know how to be content in all states. Paul knew that his inward sufficiency truly was ‘sufficient’ in all circumstances. In 2 Corinthians 11, he wrote about some of those circumstances;

… in labors more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequently, in deaths often. From the Jews five times I received forty stripes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods; once I was stoned; three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I have been in the deep; in journeys often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils of my own countrymen, in perils of the Gentiles, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; in weariness and toil, in sleeplessness often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness–besides the other things, what comes upon me daily: my deep concern for all the churches. Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to stumble, and I do not burn with indignation? (2 Corinthians 11:23-29).

What a wide variety of ‘ups’ and ‘downs’ this man Paul experienced! In fact, he was even proving it as he wrote these words of victory—sitting as he was in a dark, dank Roman prison cell awaiting possible execution. And he was affirming all this so that his readers—including us—could experience the same prevailing consistency of ‘contentment’ in all of the challenges of life that Paul experienced.

This leads us finally to notice …

4. HOW CONTENTMENT WAS OBTAINED (v. 13).

He put it plainly when he wrote, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” Some other versions of the Bible have translated it this way: “I can do all things through Him who strengthens me”. But it’s obvious that the “Him” that he speaks of is Jesus Christ. As he said in Philippians 1:21, “For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” Jesus was everything to Paul—including his source of contentment in all the circumstances of life.

Jesus Himself once made it clear to us—as His followers—that we cannot do anything apart from Him. He said,

“Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing” (John 15:4-5).

And those who faithfully do as Jesus said—and abide in Him—find that He is sufficient for them in every possible circumstance. As Paul wrote elsewhere, in Ephesians 3:20-21,

Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen (Ephesians 3:20-21).

That prevailing power works itself down, in a very practical way, to this whole matter of ‘prevailing contentment’ in our daily lives. We can experience contentment in all circumstances of life—if we are keeping ourselves vitally connected to Jesus Christ.

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As Paul shows us, we’re not the passive victims of the circumstances of life. Our joy is not ultimately dependent upon material resources or upon outward events. Contentment in all conditions of life comes through cultivating a constant, conscious communion with Christ.

So, we ought to ask ourselves what our overall sense of ‘contentment’ is. Is it unpredictable? Is it cheaply gained and easily lost? Does it go up and down with the circumstances? If it is constantly changing, then we ought to check our hearts and see where our contentment rests. Paul’s deep contentment was unshakable, because it was centered in the unchanging Person of Jesus Christ—who strengthened Paul for the doing of all things.  If our contentment is centered in Jesus, then our contentment will be as unshakable as Paul’s.

In fact, it’ll be as unshakable as Jesus Christ Himself!

AE