So as we stand in this funny little week between Christmas and New Year, with just that bit of time to reflect, can I ask you – are you truly content with your life? As you survey the landscape of your life – the hills, the valleys … the roads yet untraveled – is that something that you do with a quiet contentment in your heart …. or not?

So, come on – on a scale of zero to 10, how content are you with your life? I have a strong suspicion that whilst there are a few outliers out there – a few people who are giving themselves a one or a 2, because they’re not content at all, and a few who are a 9 or a 10 – the vast majority are in the middle of the bell curve, somewhere between a 4 and a 7 I’m guessing.

Are you content with who you are, where you live, what you have, your job, your family, your future as you see it at the moment … or not?

It’s worth pondering. So what is contentment? Is it a state of happiness or jubilation? I don’t think so. I trawled a bunch of dictionaries but failed to come up with a satisfactory definition.

A state of happiness and satisfaction was the most common definition, with examples like “he found contentment in living a simple life in the country” and “the contentment of a comfortable retirement”.

Of course it’d be great if we all were able to live a simple life in the country and have a comfortable retirement – but that’s not a reality for the vast majority of people on the planet. The people who are bringing children up and dealing with all the struggles and joys that that entails; the people who are working in a fast paced world, with never – it seems – enough time to get to everything they should get to; the people who are struggling with their health, with their wellbeing, with their safety even.

I’m thinking of the many people listening to today’s program in war–torn parts of Africa, from within refugee camps where I know we have many listeners. I’m thinking of the person who’s just been diagnosed with cancer, or just lost one of their children.

Life is a series of valleys and mountain tops isn’t it? And my sense is that contentment is something that we can have, whether where on the top of the highest mountain or in the depths of the darkest valley. I think. But it’s not just me. It’s the Bible; it’s God too – He has a lot to say about contentment and as we step out on this series – The Road to Contentment – it’s my job and my great pleasure to share with you what God has to say about contentment.

Why don’t we kick it off with this Scripture: 1 Tim 6:3–10

Teach and urge these duties. Whoever teaches otherwise and does not agree with the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the teaching that is in accordance with godliness, is conceited, understanding nothing, and has a morbid craving for controversy and for disputes about words. From these come envy, dissension, slander, base suspicions, and wrangling among those who are depraved in mind and bereft of the truth, imagining that godliness is a means of gain. Of course, there is great gain in godliness combined with contentment; for we brought nothing into the world, so that we can take nothing out of it; but if we have food and clothing, we will be content with these. But those who want to be rich fall into temptation and are trapped by many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, and in their eagerness to be rich some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pains

All too often I’ve heard Bible teachers – or people who hold themselves out to be Bible teachers – promise that following Jesus is going to involve wealth and riches. And can I tell you, if I started teaching that, I know that I personally would be far better off financially, because people seem to want to give lots of their hard earned money to people who scratch them where they itch; who tell them what they want to hear; that if you follow Jesus, you’re going to be blessed with this and with that.

But if I did that, I wouldn’t be able to refer to myself as a Bible teacher because my friend, as you’ve just heard, that’s simply not what the Bible says. It’s what we’d like the Bible to say, but it’s simply not what it says. What it does say, however, is this – let’s listen to it again and let it sink in:

there is great gain in godliness combined with contentment; for we brought nothing into the world, so that we can take nothing out of it; but if we have food and clothing, we will be content with these

Godliness plus contentment equals great gain. It turns out that God places a very high value on this thing that we call contentment. I guess it’s kind of obvious that God wants you and me to be godly – no one would be surprised by that now would they? But contentment. Did you realise that God wants you to be content? That He wants you to reap the great gain, the fruit of contentment?

And that – in stark contrast to what the world offers. The riches of this world that are so … so seductive. All those baubles and trinkets. The things that go way, way above our basic needs of food and clothing and shelter. The things that God is saying to you and me which ultimately, if we chase after them, will cause us to be pierced with many pains. Pretty strong language that.

Think back to a time in your life when you’ve been content. Just happy with who you are and what you have. Sure it wasn’t all perfect, but inside you had that warm feeling of contentment. Isn’t that something worth having? Isn’t that so much better than having the things that the world tells us will make us happy. You and I know that all those things are imposters and yet … we’re tempted to chase after them anyway. We get our needs and our wants all mixed up and our wants take over.

I know that this is a touchy area, because we all have these desires and aspirations that go way beyond our basic needs. Some of them are really good desires and aspirations too – but there’s a line that we can cross over which robs of contentment. And that’s what we’re going to be talking about over these coming few weeks. Why? Because God wants you to be content. He wants you to experience the warmth of godliness combined with contentment – all we need to do, is discover how.

I wonder sometimes whether we realise how deeply conditioned we are to desire things that we don’t have. Have you ever been puzzled by the tenth commandment – let’s take a look at it as a bit of a refresher – Exodus 20:17:

You shall not covet your neighbour’s house; you shall not covet your neighbour’s wife, or male or female slave, or ox, or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbour.

What an odd commandment. Don’t steal, don’t murder, don’t lie … they all make sense. They’re about what you do. But this commandment doesn’t talk about what we do; it’s about what we think and feel. That word “covet” means to desire deeply. Why does God finish off the ten commandments with that one?

Because He knows that desiring things we don’t have – and as in the case of our neighbour’s wife, shouldn’t have – can lead us into doing things that’ll destroy us. Just let the weight of that truth sink in. The wrong desires of our hearts are what lead to our destruction. And yet, every time you turn the TV on, or open a newspaper, or a glossy magazine, or visit a site on the internet, or even go down to your local supermarket, you’re confronted with advertisements specifically designed to fuel your desire for something that you don’t yet have.

It’s so insidious, so pervasive, that we don’t even realise that it’s going on. The best way to figure out how deeply these desires have their tentacles wrapped around our hearts, is to do a stocktake of the things that you dream about. Then, all of a sudden – you start to realise what your heart truly desires.

So … can you be content in the middle of conflict? Well, I think you can. In fact, I know you can. And when you think about it, when the world’s going crazy all around you, as it seems to be doing these days, that’s precisely the time when contentment is at its most precious

Alright, I know at this point that some people are struggling with that thing that I just threw out there about contentment in the midst of conflict. Perhaps you’re even experiencing conflict right now. An argument, or tension, or some other great trial that’s like an albatross around your neck, weighing you down, robbing you of joy and peace … and contentment.

It’s pretty normal that we find ourselves carrying around heavy burdens. Financial pressure. Health worries. Simple and basic issues of personal safety and security. Everybody – and I mean everybody – has some of those things in their lives. The weight of other people’s expectations – and you’re struggling to perform. The disappointments when other people don’t deliver what you expected them to.

On and on the list goes. You know exactly what your conflict, your trial looks like right now. And as you stare them in the face, the idea that you can be content in the middle of those circumstances seems, well … completely crazy. You’re quite possible thinking to yourself, well I’ve heard some doozies, but this time Berni’s completely off his rocker.

Let’s kick off with something that Jesus said Matt 11:28–30:

Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

A familiar passage for many, perhaps, but how often do we stop and think about what that really means. Jesus is nothing if not a realist – and here He is, telling us that He gets it that we’re carrying around heavy burdens – that we’re weary, tired, downright exhausted. It’s the picture of an ox dragging a heavy load. And so Jesus pulls along side and says, let’s get yoked up together here, let’s pull this load together and I will give you rest. Not just any rest. But rest for your soul.

The reason that we’re kicking off with this today is that we somehow imagine that everything has to be going right and well for us in order for the blessing of God to kick into our lives. When I get all my finances sorted, when my kids finally get through those difficult teenage years, when I find a boss and a job that are just tickety–boo perfect, when … whatever … then I’ll experience God’s blessing. Then I’ll find rest for my soul. Then I’ll finally be content perhaps with a happy well provisioned retirement.

But Jesus is saying – No, that’s not it at all! Right in the middle of the tough times, right when the conflict is greatest, the burden is at it’s heaviest and you’re the most exhausted you’ve ever been, right when you’re at the end of your tether – that’s the perfect time to experience His rest and contentment.

We live in such a performance–oriented world that tells us we should be successful, it’s drummed into us day after day, that we get to the point where we won’t even admit it to ourselves let alone God or anyone else, that life’s not going well and now would be a really good time Jesus, for you to pull alongside next to me so that I can have rest for my soul.

And please, I don’t for one moment want you to imagine that I have a perfect life where everything is always going swimmingly well. Granted, many of the consequences of some of the ingrained sin in my life that God has been dealing with over the last almost 20 years – they’re gone. But He’s got plenty left to deal with and in any case, our enemy the devil isn’t always that please with a guy who’s telling people about Jesus, so He’s on my case I can tell you. Obstacles. Roadblocks. Attacks. Satan is alive and well and doing his thing.

So I’m talking to you from out on my battlefield, not in some nice, safe, cloistered lecture theatre. This isn’t a theory lesson, it’s practical stuff. And I can tell you that when it comes to contentment, the only place I’ve ever found it is tethered to Jesus, pulling the heavy loads that He’s called me to pull.

Your loads are different to mine, I know. But he all have heavy loads, we all have burdens, we all have things in our lives that aren’t going the way we think they should be. And we sit there on the lounge crying out – God Why Me? What’s going on? And we don’t for a minute recognise that God is right there and He wants us to experience contentment in our lives.

Here’s my definition of contentment – being happy to accept who you are, where you are, what you have and what’s going on without trying to wish any of it away. Life’s meant to have some pain in it, life’s meant to have some suffering in it because those are the very places where we have the opportunity to reach out to Jesus and accept His offer.

Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

And when we do, we discover that with Him, we can do just about anything. We can face the world and the troubles, we can carry the loads, with rest in our soul and contentment in our heart. That’s what the Apostle Paul discovered – that’s exactly what He discovered sitting in a Roman dungeon on death row:

Not that I am referring to being in need; for I have learned to be content with whatever I have. I know what it is to have little, and I know what it is to have plenty. In any and all circumstances I have learned the secret of being well- fed and of going hungry, of having plenty and of being in need.

I can do all things through him who strengthens me. (Phil 4:11–13)

Do you get it? F or Paul, contentment wasn’t at all dependent on his circumstances. He’s content with whatever he has, wherever he is, whatever’s going on around him and whatever’s happening to him. He’s content even when his stomach is grumbling because he’s discovered in his experience that he can get through anything through Jesus, who strengthens him.

And just as he sat there in his dungeon having learned to be content through experiencing all manner of things with Jesus by His side, so can you and I. All we need to do is to draw close to Jesus. Let’s go back to that picture of the two oxen yoked together – Jesus on one side, you on the other side. The point is that they’re both carrying the load, but in order to do so, they have to be close to one another. Shoulder to shoulder, heading in the same direction.

When you’re close to someone, you can sense their mood. You can hear their whispers. You can feel what they’re feeling. You don’t even have to say a word and when one turns slightly to the right, the other just follows naturally along.

That’s the picture of a life with Jesus, journeying through life yoked together. The problem for way too many people is that they’re miles away from Jesus – in the sense that they haven’t been spending time with Him, they haven’t been praying and seeking His will, they haven’t been reading His Word and thinking about it, chewing It over, praying it over, listening to Him. They haven’t been willing to yield to His direction and guidance – and so then, when the going gets tough they’re wondering – where’s Jesus.

Well, let me say this to you and to me (we all need to hear this) – He’s been there all along dummy. Once you accept Jesus into your life, He’ll never leave you or forsake you. He’s not the one who wondered of – you have, I have. Contentment is a blessing that comes in the good times and in the bad when we’re close to Jesus.

So – step 1 – get close to Jesus. Make time for Him, read His Word, pray, listen, fellowship with your Lord through the power and the Presence of the Holy Spirit. Looking for contentment? This is the only place you’re going to find it let me tell you.

Contentment. Who doesn’t want that? Problem is that we all have stuff going on in our lives that seems to rob us of contentment. Okay, so perhaps God wants you and me to be content. But perhaps as you look back on this past year and think about the road ahead, perhaps that just feels a bit like mission impossible.

Today we’re going to head off on a journey with the Apostle Paul that’s a bit of a mission impossible. Paul was a guy who, in the first century had persecuted Christians. That was, until He encountered Jesus on the road to Damascus – that meeting totally changed his life. To the point, where he went out and started sharing the Good News of Jesus with the rest of the world – a complete turnaround.

We’re going to pick up some of his story today as he recounts it to his friends in Corinth. Corinth was a racy place, a busy city and the intersection of a couple of trade routes. It was a city full of immorality and so even though there was a church in Corinth, a large, thriving church, they were into a lot of stuff – reflective of the culture in which they lived – which was far from godly.

So Paul wrote them a letter – we call it 1^st Corinthians, these day’s its one of the books in the New Testament of the Bible – which was pretty harsh. A tough going over.

But we’re going to pick up the story in the second letter that he wrote to them – 2^nd Corinthians – because in it, he shares much of the story of his journey thus far – and I have to tell you, it was seriously a case of mission impossible – or so it seemed. Especially when it comes to experiencing contentment, which is what we’re on about in this series of messages – The Road to Contentment.

So, let’s join Paul. 2 Cor 4:

Therefore, since it is by God’s mercy that we are engaged in this ministry, we do not lose heart. We have renounced the shameful things that one hides; we refuse to practice cunning or to falsify God’s word; but by the open statement of the truth we commend ourselves to the conscience of everyone in the sight of God. And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. For we do not proclaim ourselves; we proclaim Jesus Christ as Lord and ourselves as your slaves for Jesus’ sake. For it is the God who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

But we have this treasure in clay jars, so that it may be made clear that this extraordinary power belongs to God and does not come from us. We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be made visible in our bodies. For while we live, we are always being given up to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus may be made visible in our mortal flesh. So death is at work in us, but life in you.

 But just as we have the same spirit of faith that is in accordance with scripture—“I believed, and so I spoke”—we also believe, and so we speak, because we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus, and will bring us with you into his presence. Yes, everything is for your sake, so that grace, as it extends to more and more people, may increase thanksgiving, to the glory of God.

 So we do not lose heart. Even though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed day by day. For this slight momentary affliction is preparing us for an eternal weight of glory beyond all measure, because we look not at what can be seen but at what cannot be seen; for what can be seen is temporary, but what cannot be seen is eternal

So – do you get the picture here that Paul and his ministry team weren’t having a particularly easy time of it? That’s an understatement isn’t it? They were doing it really tough.

When was the last time that you were feeling afflicted, perplexed, persecuted, struck down? He’s out there proclaiming the truth. He’s forsaken the shameful things, the sins of his past; he’s not proclaiming himself, not building himself up in people’s eyes. No, he’s proclaiming Christ. He’s doing all the right stuff – out on the road, telling people about Jesus and yet he’s facing this onslaught, this barrage of persecution to the point that he’s in fear for his life. So when all this happens – is he complaining about it the way that perhaps you and I would? Is he trying to wish it away? Is he trying to avoid it? Is he dreaming of a better, easier go at it?

None of those things. Instead, he downplays it all as a momentary affliction. See discontentment is when we want our circumstances to change, so that things will be better for us so that then – this is what we think to ourselves – then we can be content.

But Paul here is completely content. Completely. He wouldn’t change a thing. He’s out there getting about God’s business of winning souls, completely focussed on Jesus; completely focussed on what Jesus has called him to do. Completely. That’s the secret. Jesus is his contentment. The promise of what is to come is his contentment.

His body is bring tried and tested on the outside but on the inside he’s growing richer, more powerful in his faith, more content with what the Lord’s called him to do – because for Paul it’s all about Jesus. My friend that’s the secret. That’s the answer. Paul is living his life in glad submission – let me say it again – glad submission to Jesus. And the moment we gladly give ourselves over to the Lord, we stop wishing that we could change this or that, because those things cease to be important.

I can tell you from personal experience that in moments of selfishness and weakness, which we all have, contentment evaporates. But when I spend time with Jesus, when I get back to who He is and what He’s done and what He’s calling me to do, can I tell you, the rest of what’s going on, the things that I have to tolerate and sometimes suffer – they cease to matter. Contentment returns.

What about you? What about your life? What’s your focus? Are you focussed on you or are you focussed on Jesus? Are you focussed on what you want to get out of life, or are you focussed on what Jesus has called you to do? They’re the questions we need to be asking ourselves. Because that’s where contentment lies … or not.

The longer we keep trying to clip the ticket as it were, as long as we’re always looking for what’s in it for us, we’ll never find the contentment that we’ve been looking for. I want to challenge you, go read that passage again. The whole chapter – 2^nd Corinthians Chapter 4 – and ask yourself Is this how I’m living my life? Because if it’s not, it should be.

This is the beginning of the road to contentment. Elsewhere in 1 Cor 7:17 Paul writes:

Let each of you lead the life that the Lord has assigned, to which God called you

We’re going to talk about that a whole bunch more another day. But for the moment, can I just say this to you? Get on with it. Go live the life that the Lord has assigned to you; the life He’s called you to. Stop worrying about what’s in it for you. Stop being surprised that it involves suffering. Stop trying to wish the suffering away. Just get on with it, the way that Jesus got on with the business of saving you through His death on the Cross.

There is such great contentment in Christ and in Christ alone; in the life that He’s called you to, the one He’s pre–ordained for you and in that life alone. Just go and live that life for Jesus – and you’ll be amazed how all that other stuff, just stops mattering.

One year’s about to finish and another soon to begin. So repentance may seem like a bit of an odd thing to be talking about this time of year. And yet, as we set out on the road ahead, leaving our mistakes behind, turning away from them as it were, is incredibly important. Because there’s such power – incredible power – in repentance.

What are the nasty little sins that you’re hanging onto in your life? You know – you’ve given everything else over to God, except …. This one thing.

It may be something like –gossiping and complaining – something that’s evident to all. Or, it may be something that you do in secret – sexual immorality – that nobody except God and you can see. Whatever it is, there is no such thing as a small, insignificant sin.

It that one thing you’re holding back from God were the only sin in all of human history, Jesus would still have come to die for you, because the penalty for that sin is eternal separation from God. No sin is small to God. And as things turn out, no sin is too small for Satan either.

Because it gives him a foothold into your life. In fact, he doesn’t even need a foot hold – a toe hold will do.

Ephesians 4:27 tells us that we shouldn’t make room for the devil. And there’s a reason for that.

When I was in the military studying tactics and strategy for war, one of the things that they taught us was that if you were invading a piece of land from the sea, the first thing that you had to do was to establish a beachhead. A small piece of land that you secured by putting your forces on the ground – so that you could safely land the rest of your force. Without that secure beachhead it was impossible to land the rest of your force and complete your objective.

And, putting the shoe on the other foot, if you were the defending force, trying to stop an enemy coming to take your land from the sea, you would do everything you possibly could to deny him a secure beachhead – without it, he would fail.

That one bit that we’re holding back from God is a secure beachhead for Satan. Because only the power of God can secure it for you. Problem is, you’ve kept God out of that part of your life, so you are giving Satan free reign to plunder the rest of your life. And let me ask you – when that happens, can you really blame God for the lack of contentment in your life? Of course not. Contentment is a gift from God – it’s really important to Him, He really wants you and me to be content. But sin is going to rob us of that contentment each and every time. That’s why repentance is such a powerful thing – because whilst your under the power of sin, you can’t be content.

Let’s continue with the Apostle Paul in 2 Cor 7 – as he shares the power, God’s power, of repentance with us.

Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and of spirit, making holiness perfect in the fear of God.

For even when we came into Macedonia, our bodies had no rest, but we were afflicted in every way—disputes without and fears within. But God, who consoles the downcast, consoled us by the arrival of Titus, and not only by his coming, but also by the consolation with which he was consoled about you, as he told us of your longing, your mourning, your zeal for me, so that I rejoiced still more. For even if I made you sorry with my letter, I do not regret it (though I did regret it, for I see that I grieved you with that letter, though only briefly). Now I rejoice, not because you were grieved, but because your grief led to repentance; for you felt a godly grief, so that you were not harmed in any way by us. For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation and brings no regret, but worldly grief produces death. For see what earnestness this godly grief has produced in you, what eagerness to clear yourselves, what indignation, what alarm, what longing, what zeal, what punishment! At every point you have proved yourselves guiltless in the matter. So although I wrote to you, it was not on account of the one who did the wrong, nor on account of the one who was wronged, but in order that your zeal for us might be made known to you before God. In this we find comfort.

In addition to our own consolation, we rejoiced still more at the joy of Titus, because his mind has been set at rest by all of you. For if I have been somewhat boastful about you to him, I was not disgraced; but just as everything we said to you was true, so our boasting to Titus has proved true as well. And his heart goes out all the more to you, as he remembers the obedience of all of you, and how you welcomed him with fear and trembling. I rejoice, because I have complete confidence in you

Now, Paul talks there about making the Corinthians – whom he’s writing to here – sorry with his letter. He’s talking about his first letter to them – that book in the New Testament that we call 1^st Corinthians – which was a really stern letter, admonishing them for all kinds of sin – sexual immorality, idol worship, disunity – all sorts of stuff. If you or I received a letter like that, we’d be pretty annoyed I expect.

All the while Paul and his friends are suffering greatly for the sake of proclaiming the Good News of Jesus. Paul sends his friend Titus to Corinth, to see how the Corinthians are getting on after his first, rather harsh letter and Titus comes back to report that the letter’s had the most amazing impact, because they have … repented. They’ve turned away from their sins. They’ve let God in to reign and to rule as Lord.

It was a letter that led the Corinthians to grief – discontentment if you well. They realised their ways and realised they had to change – that discontentment led them on a path to repentance. And that’s exactly what’s meant to happen.

For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation and brings no regret, but worldly grief produces death.

Sometimes the reason that we’re not contented is that sin is robbing us of the contentment. But when we come to our senses and change our minds – and that’s what the word repentance means – then that grief leads to salvation without regrets. That’s the place where contentment begins. That’s the power of repentance. Repentance brings contentment. It’s cause and effect.

Do you notice the contrast that Paul makes between godly grief and worldly grief? Worldly grief, he says, produces death. So, when we’re discontent and chase after the things of the world, fame, fortune, sex, comfort – whatever it is, those are the things that lead us away from God and end in … death; a Christless eternity.

On the other hand when we grab a hold of our discontentment and realise that it’s there because sin is robbing us of the gift of contentment that God has for us, what we can do is to turn things around by turning away from those things, and turning back to God.

Ditching the rubbish, and claiming God. Repenting is coming to that point of realising how stupid we were all along to hold this little it of our lives, this little sin back from God – and in so doing, giving the devil a beachhead from which to plunder our whole lives – and turning back to God and asking for His forgiveness and His power to live our lives for Him.

When the enemy is plundering your territory you cannot be content. That’s as plain as the nose on your face and mine. But repenting is kicking him out of our lives by the power of God – and at that point, contentment, delight, joy and peace start to return.

I’m going to say it again. There is no such thing as a small sin, because every sin is punishable by eternal separation from God, and every sin, no matter how incy–wincy tiny it is, provides a more than ample toehold for the devil, to establish his kingdom of darkness in our lives and plunder us from within.

Sin robs us of contentment. Repentance restores the conditions that allow contentment to develop. There’s no middle ground.

Well, here we are – New Year’s Eve. The final day of the year. What will tomorrow, what will next year hold? Wouldn’t it be great to be content in the new year? And yet contentment is something of a Holy Grail for many people. In the turmoil and busyness of life we’d just love to experience that … that wonderful sense of being content. Well, today, we’re going to discover one way of making that happen.

So far, over the course of this series we’ve been discovering how to get our lives on the road to contentment. We’ve seen God’s plan is very much that we should be content. In fact, He places a high premium, a high value indeed on contentment – it is, if you will, a normal part of living our lives for Him – no matter what happens to be going on around us. In 1 Tim 6:6 and 7 He says to us through Paul the Apostle that …

There is great gain in godliness combined with contentment; for we brought nothing into the world, so that we can take nothing out of it; but if we have food and clothing, we will be content with these

Absolutely there is. Content is that sense that we’re not dancing to the tune of our desires anymore. We look around at what we have – and what we don’t have more importantly – and we don’t feel that restlessness, that nagging desire to have more, to be more, to have more thought of us.

And God particularly wants us to experience that contentment in the face of the conflicts and the trials that we go through. Again, just as the Apostle Paul did as his life hung in the balance on death row in a Roman dungeon, when he was able, amidst his great rejoicing to write these words to his friends in Philippi:

Not that I am referring to being in need; for I have learned to be content with whatever I have. I know what it is to have little, and I know what it is to have plenty. In any and all circumstances I have learned the secret of being well- fed and of going hungry, of having plenty and of being in need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me (Phil 4:11–13)

And today, we’re going to discover another way of finding contentment. One of the things that often robs us of contentment is the desire for more money and the things that money can buy – we’re going to look at that in more detail next time around.

I used to be very much trapped in this desire for more wealth before I became a Christian. And the more of it that I gained, the less satisfied and content I felt. That’s a terrible paradox, but it’s so true. It happens time and time again, which is exactly what God tells us.

The lover of money will not be satisfied with money; nor the lover of wealth, with gain. This also is vanity. (Ecclesiastes 5:10)

And so today we’re going to go to God’s radical plan for breaking free from this addiction to wealth – which constantly makes us discontent with what we have. And that radical plan involves … radical giving. Have a listen – this is the Apostle Paul writing to his friends in Corinth. He was a man on a mission, to raise support for the Christians in Jerusalem who were going hungry because of a great famine. HE’s encouraging the Corinthians who were quite wealthy to give, in the same way that the Macedonians had given.

But the Macedonians as things turned out weren’t wealthy at all. Here is what he writes:

We want you to know, brothers and sisters, about the grace of God that has been granted to the churches of Macedonia; for during a severe ordeal of affliction, their abundant joy and their extreme poverty have overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part. For, as I can testify, they voluntarily gave according to their means, and even beyond their means, begging us earnestly for the privilege of sharing in this ministry to the saints— and this, not merely as we expected; they gave themselves first to the Lord and, by the will of God, to us, so that we might urge Titus that, as he had already made a beginning, so he should also complete this generous undertaking among you. Now as you excel in everything—in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in utmost eagerness, and in our love for you —so we want you to excel also in this generous undertaking.

I do not say this as a command, but I am testing the genuineness of your love against the earnestness of others. For you know the generous act of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that by his poverty you might become rich. And in this matter I am giving my advice: it is appropriate for you who began last year not only to do something but even to desire to do something— now finish doing it, so that your eagerness may be matched by completing it according to your means. For if the eagerness is there, the gift is acceptable according to what one has—not according to what one does not have. I do not mean that there should be relief for others and pressure on you, but it is a question of a fair balance between your present abundance and their need, so that their abundance may be for your need, in order that there may be a fair balance.

Now the power of what God’s saying to us here through Paul the Apostle is this: generosity breeds contentment. Look at the Macedonians – they had so little, and yet they were so eager to give as much as they could possibly give. They begged Paul to be able to give to those who had even less than them, their brothers and sisters in Christ, living in Jerusalem who were starving.

Now, you may say to me Berni, hang on a minute, you’re putting the cart before the horse here. Their giving didn’t breed contentment, it was the other way around. They were already content; their generosity was a product of their contentment.

That’s the way it reads. But Paul here is using the examples to test the genuineness of the faith and the love of the Corinthians – who were by comparison, very wealthy indeed. This was a lesson for the Corinthians to teach them to be generous, because Paul knew that if they could get through this, if they could give generously and sacrificially, the insidious control that wealth had over their hearts would be broken.

This act of generosity, he goes on to say, is like mimicking Jesus, becoming more like the One who gave up everything, so that we might have everything for ever. As surely as night follows day, when we start to give sacrificially to God’s work, little by little, the lure of wealth loses its power over us and we start to experience the contentment that God always had planned for our lives.

That’s exactly how it happened for me. I didn’t become a Christian until age 36, by which time I owned a very profitable business and I was earning a lot of money. And I remember Christians talking about this thing – tithing, giving a tenth of your income to God’s work.

I was very well off. And yet week after week I would go to church, be blessed by the teaching and the fellowship, be growing in my faith, but when the offering plate came around, I would only put in some loose change. Tithing? Ten percent? You have to be kidding me. You’d think for someone who was very well off that wouldn’t have been a problem.

But when you’re earning a lot, 10% is an awful lot of money to give away. But God is gracious and the Holy Spirit worked away at me until eventually, I kind of grimaced and took the plunge, I began to tithe my income. It was hard at first I don’t mind telling you. That was almost 20 years ago – and looking back on it now, I can see how God used that in my life to set me free from the desire to always buy the next thing and the next thing and the next thing.

I have so little desire for “stuff” these days – which is completely the opposite of what I used to be like. I always wanted “stuff” – even though it never satisfied me. And I can honestly tell you that the principle that Paul was talking about there in 2 Cor Chapter 8 – is absolutely true. If you want to be content, if you want to break the power that the desire for wealth has over your life – a desire that ipso facto breeds discontent in your heart – then start giving sacrificially to God’s work. And pretty soon, sacrifice will turn into generosity and generosity will overflow into a rich contentment in your life.

It’s the way it always works.