Commitment to Contentment

(Jn 3:26-30)

It’s the holidays and you’re off for a wonderful time to see your family. Don’t you just love those long trips with your children in the car? They begin asking “When are we going to get there?” the moment you get out of the driveway increasing in frequency and crescendo as you get nearer your destination—never satisfied with the rate of your progress. There are never enough pillows to go around; why are you always one short? You think we are so smart by taking a family vote on which fast food place to eat at—leaving at least one dissatisfied. And then they start getting in each other’s spaces so you have to draw lines to keep them from killing themselves because they are so discontented with their assigned seat. Lastly, they begin looking at each other of all things—“She’s looking at me!” so you pray to the Lord Jesus that YOU don’t kill them!

Children have a way of being discontented on a long journey. Aren’t you glad that’s not the case with God’s children on our long journey together? Some of us are like our children on a long car ride--living in a perpetual state of discontentment. Beware of the sin of discontentment which always grows out of a feeling of dissatisfaction—not getting my fair share.

Discontentment is seen in our desires for another job, a newer car, a bigger house, more income, a different personality, or even desiring a different spouse or a larger ministry. Dissatisfaction leads to the feeling that God has not come through for you--the ultimate result of a “Jesus can make life better for you” self-centered kind of gospel.

If you are honest with yourself and are anything like me, you fight discontentment on a regular basis. However, very few are honest with themselves regarding this sin.

I have had many come into my office and confess their sins of adultery, pornography, anger, theft, or gossip to name a few. In 40 years of ministry I have never had someone come in and confess the sin of discontentment and dissatisfaction, but it is as ordinary as the common cold.

These few verses in John’s gospel give us insight into John the Baptist’s commitment to contentment which becomes a standard for us in our long journey together as God’s children. The mature response of John the Baptist to these events reveals how contented he was—a character quality that few of us in this room have mastered. The NT word for contentment primarily means “sufficiency” or “satisfaction.” With that in mind, here’s today’s big idea for you to consider: Contentment is being satisfied that my Loving

Heavenly Father has provided all I—His child--need in my present circumsstance.

I

Contentment is being satisfied that my heavenly father is working out his beautiful plan for my life (vv. 26-27)

If anyone had a reason to be discontented, it was John the Baptist. Called of God to live a rugged lifestyle—clothed in camel’s hair and eating locusts and honey of all things (and you think your diet tastes bad)!

He was such an oddity that many came out to hear him preach just to be amused as if he were a circus act. His mission was to preach an “in your face” message of repentance that not only was unappreciated but ultimately cost him his head.

Then to add insult to injury, he experienced only brief success as soon his crowds grew smaller and smaller. What was John to do now that he was falling behind in the primary gauge of ministerial

success—numbers of followers? What would you do if you are being faithful to the task and an upstart preacher starts a church down the street and your followers leave you for him?

You can get away with doing anything to a preacher except out-preaching him and stealing his sheep—both of which it appeared

Jesus was doing to John the Baptist.

(Read verse 26) Here John’s disciples have a genuine concern about their ministry and their leader as they are losing their numbers to Jesus.

A discussion of baptism was taking place (v. 25), and in this discussion, the topic of conversation moves to the fact that Jesus was baptizing more than John.

As an aside, this is a classic example of someone taking up another’s offense: Person A hurts person B and person C gets is upset on behalf of person B against person A who hurt person B whom

person C loves.

We are discouraged from taking up offenses on behalf of others because the usual routine is that we are more upset than they are because they are receiving and applying the grace of God given

them to weather the storm.

An example of this is in 2 Samuel 16 and 19, when Abishai (taking up David’s offense) wants to kill Shimei who is cursing David. David says to leave Shimei alone for his cursings may come from the Lord. A contented person is willing to take both “curses” and “blessings”—knowing they are from the Lord.

(Read verse 27) These defections began in John 1:35-37 when John had baptized Jesus and two of John’s disciples appropriately change their allegiances from John to Jesus.

John responds to their concern here by telling them that this development is of the Lord. John knew that Jesus was the Messiah

and that God’s full anointing was upon Him and that his ministry would soon fade from the scene.

John is also saying that God controls all things and all that we have comes from Him. John is at peace with himself and his place in God’s plan and isn’t threatened or embittered at this news. Instead John knew that the same loving heavenly father who had a wonderful plan for John’s life had one for Jesus as well.

We have got to come to the place where we recognize someone else is in control in our circumstances and that someone is our loving heavenly Father.

He is at work behind the scenes in our lives more than we know. God is the blessed controller of all things. Everything that comes your way has been filtered through His loving hands—“a man can receive nothing unless it has been given him from heaven” (v. 27).

Did you catch that—“receive?” Great saints are great receivers. We must learn to receive our circumstances; not reject or react or resent them. Jeremiah 19:11 reminds us of God’s beautiful plan for our lives.

A king was suffering from a painful ailment. He was told that the only cure for him was to find a contented man, get his shirt and wear it. Messengers were sent throughout the king's realm in search of such a man with orders to bring back his shirt.

After a thorough search the messengers returned but without the shirt. “Did you not find a contented man in my entire realm?” the king asked. “Yes, we found one--just one.” they replied. “Then why did you not bring back his shirt?” the king demanded.

"Master, he had no shirt,” was the reply. Now it is one thing to be satisfied that God is working out a beautiful plan for your life, it is

quite another to apply this second principle John the Baptist models for us in his commitment to contentment . . .

II

Contentment is being satisfied that my place in my father’s plan (vv. 28-29)

John reminds his followers that he had already told them who he was and who he wasn’t in verse 28 (read). In verse 29 he tells them who Jesus is in relation to John’s place in the Father’s plan (read). John is not in competition with Jesus but complements Him.

Jesus is the bridegroom and John is “the friend of the bridegroom”—a specific title generally equivalent to our best man. This shosben had a unique place at a Jewish wedding as he arranged the wedding, presided over the wedding feast, and brought the bride and the bridegroom together.

He also guarded the bridal chamber and to let no false lover in only opening the door to the bridegroom when in the dark he heard and recognized his voice.

Then he went on his way rejoicing having completed his task. John, having heard the Bridegroom’s voice and having fulfilled his place in His Father’s plan, is prepared to go his way rejoicing having completed his task. Is your joy full as you reflect on your place in the Father’s plan for your life?

There are five major areas of discontentment or dissatisfaction with which we all struggle.

(1) We struggle with being discontented with our possessions. Elisabeth Elliot defines suffering as “having what you don’t want or wanting what you don’t have” (A Path Through Suffering as quoted in DJ M/J 2000, p. 47).

A visitor from another country walked through Wal-Mart and said rather incredulously, “Look at all the things I don’t need.” When is the last time we had that attitude? Ours is the opposite—look at all the things I can’t do without.

I mean look in our garages, our closets, our storage sheds and see all the stuff that we thought we needed, spent good money on and now they sit and rot.

Discontentment in life is people buying things they don’t need with money they don’t have to impress people they don’t even like! But God says, “Life does not consist of the abundance of one's possessions” (Lu. 12:15).

God’s math for contentment is not the addition of possessions but the subtraction of desires.

(2) We struggle with being discontented with our position in life. Charles Swindoll in Home Where Life Makes Up Its Mind puts it this way, “It is hard to be content when we’ve been programmed

from birth to compete . . . (and) worship at the throne of promotion, and public opinion.

We’re afraid of contentment because if we accept it we’re either lazy or will lose prestige” (Quoted in Kindred Spirit, Fall, 1975 p. 10).

William Law offers an antidote to discontentment: “If someone is leaving you behind, and you are becoming jealous or embittered, keep praying that he may have success in the very matter where he is awakening your envy and you will grow a little nearer to the stature of the Baptist.”

God says, “Neither from the east nor from the west comes promotion, but God puts down one and exalts another” (Psa. 75:6, 7) and “Those who compare themselves with themselves and measure themselves by themselves are without understanding” (2 Cor. 10:12).

(3) We struggle with being discontented with our personal self-worth or personality. Surveys show that 99% of people worry about their self-image.

In determining our self-worth we fall into the trap of either competition or comparison or both. We compete in sports, business, education, and even in the neighborhood with our Christmas lights.

(4) We compare ourselves with others as a mark of our success. However, God says for you “to think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you” (Rom. 12:3).

Don’t fall into the trap of “Lord, why didn’t you make me like him (or her)?” We are to accept ourselves applying the principle of Psalm 139:14: “I am fearfully and wonderfully made and my soul knows it very well.”

(4) We struggle with being discontented because of problems in life. Viktor Frankl psychiatrist who survived the Nazi concentration camps says, “The way in which a man accepts his fate and all the sufferings it entails, the way in which he takes up his cross, give him ample opportunity—even under the most difficult circumstances—to add a deeper meaning to life” (DJ J/F 1997, p. 101).

In their book, Life 101, John-Roger and Peter McWilliams state it this way, “Until we truly accept everything, we cannot see clearly” (DJ J/F 1997, p. 100). When we distance ourselves from the

problems of life in time and emotion, we see them in light of the whole scheme of things, just like John the Baptist does here. God says, "In everything give thanks for this is the will of God concerning you” (I Thess. 5:18).

(5) We struggle with being discontented because of personal relationships. People disappoint us and we just can’t get over it. There are warts on all of us; we must learn to deal with them. God’s answer is Romans 15:7: “Accept one another just as Christ also accepted us to the glory of God.”

Stephanie Barrett calls discontentment “looking into other people’s windows” (DJ M/J 2000, p. 45). Window gazing comes naturally for us. The tragedy of it is what we see will never be enough to truly satisfy us. We get so busy window gazing that we lose focus on God’s perspective on our lives.

Notice how Paul weighs in on this principle of being satisfied in his place in God’s plan in Philippians 4:11: “I have learned to be content in whatever circumstance I am.” Paul does not say that

he came to know this secret of a contented life automatically. How many of you were born contented?

Most of us were born crying and if we don’t watch it we will live complaining and die disappointed. We have to learn it. I am probably still in kindergarten when it comes to learning contentment. As Jesus learned obedience through the things that he suffered; so Paul learned contentment through the things that he suffered. Contentment doesn't just happen; you learn it. Are you learning this lesson in life? Contentment is an educational process—through the school of hard knocks.

Dr. Clyde Fant, one of our preaching professors at seminary loved to tell the story of a revival he preached in a country church that had a bell. Every night to remind the folks of the meeting, a mentally

challenged boy would ring the bell. “Hear it?” he would say. “I ring the bell—that’s my job. It’s what I do—ring the bell.” And you could tell how satisfied this young man was with his place in God’s plan for

that church. You have a bell to ring. Ring it well. Don’t worry about who others are or what they do.

Do your job well without succumbing to the temptation of competition or comparison. Become satisfied

with your place in your Father’s plan for your life as John the Baptist was in his.

Literally, contentment means “to be independent of external circumstances.” It refers to an independent spirit and free outlook on life--free from worry and independent of people and things.

This 4 independence Literally, contentment means “to be independent of external circumstances.” It refers to an independent spirit and free outlook on life--free from worry and independent of people and things. This 4 independence from the world is coupled with a corresponding dependence upon Christ, which leads us to the next principle John would have us learn . . .

III

Contentment is finding ultimate satisfied that my place in my growing relationship with Hesus Christ (v. 30)

These are the last words of John the Baptist and what powerful words to be remembered by: “He must increase but I must decrease.” Obviously John is saying that he is soon passing from the scene and that Jesus will take over where he left off.

But there is a spiritual lesson here. In order for us to succeed in life and find the contentment we are so desperate to find, we must decrease and He must increase in our lives. Augustine said, “Our souls are restless until they find their rest in Thee” and that holds true for the Christian as well. Paul says for us to “put off” as well as “put on.” We not only need to put off those impediments to contentment, we need to put on the impetus for it—the Lord Jesus Christ.

What other insights does the Word of God give us to help us to grow in our relationship with Jesus—the key to conquering discontentment? I Timothy 6:6-8 and Hebrews 13:5-6 help (look up and read)

Sadly we live in a day when Jesus is not enough. In 2 Corinthians 12:9, God tells Paul that His grace is sufficient for him. This word sufficient is the same word that means contentment.

We cannot be contented without applying God’s grace which gives us the desire and power to do His will.

Not to receive God’s sufficient grace it to make the tragic mistake of Esau as recorded in Hebrews 12:15-16 (read). Your alternative to contentment is bitterness.

Remember today’s big idea: Contentment is being satisfied that my Loving Heavenly Father has provided all I—His child--need in my present circumstance.

Max Lucardo writes in When God Whispers Your Name, “Satisfied? That is one thing we are not. We are not satisfied. We push back from the Thanksgiving table and pat our round bellies. ‘I'm satisfied,’ we declare.

But look at us a few hours later, back in the kitchen picking the meat from the bone. We take a vacation of a lifetime. For years we planned. For years we saved. And off we go. We satiate ourselves with sun, fun, and good food. But we are not even on the way home before we dread the end of the trip and begin planning another.

We are not satisfied. Contentment is a difficult virtue. Why? Because there is nothing on earth that can satisfy our deepest longing. We long to see God. The leaves of life are rustling with the rumor that we will—and we won’t be satisfied until we do.”

I am simply asking you today to make a commitment to contentment. Would you right now say, “Lord, right now I make a commitment to contentment and this week I am going to live in such a way that I find my satisfaction in You and Your provision for my life in my present circumstance.”

Who knows what the Lord might think about you if you make this commitment to contentment?

Perhaps He will say the same thing of you He did of John the Baptist: “Truly I say to you, among those born of women there has not arisen anyone greater than John the Baptist” (Mt. 11:11). And you know what? I would be contented with that—wouldn’t you?

Let’s pray (pray):

With heads bowed, there is one kind of discontentment that honors God—a spiritual discontentment that is dissatisfied with the way things are in your spiritual life. Isn’t it time you did something about it?

Make a commitment today to receive Christ; to come back to God; to surrender to missions or ministry; or to join this fellowship of fellow believers on journey together to become all God wants us to be. As we stand, sing, wait, and pray, I will be at the front. Come take my hand and we will rejoice with you in your public decision today in addition to the many private ones that have been made. Would you be the first to come? Let’s stand and sing.