The ConTENtment Commandments | Pastor Steven Furtick

my subject today is contentment you've heard of the ten commandments you heard of them you broken them you've heard of the ten commandments this is not the ten commandments my sermon today is called the contentment Commandments I want to speak on the subject of contentment and what it takes to live in a place of contentment and I was so mad it had these softball t-ball whatever you call it the one where they don't keep score which takes all the fun out of it for me what's so mad at her game yesterday there was this 18 month old and that baby just had me furious because he was so good and so happy and it cost me two contrast how my children behaved at age 18 months and I looked at my oldest son and my middle child and I said do you see that baby that is the opposite I asked the mom I said is he always like this and she said yeah and I said I hate you for it she said he's just always content and I told a lie to around I said you were the opposite of always content whatever the opposite was if you would have been like that Holly and I would have had 12 disciples we would have just kept populating the earth one of you is equal to 12 of those and the reason I wanted to choose Philippians 4 is because there's one verse I want you to listen for it it describes Paul toward the end of his journey in serving Christ and he describes a state of contentment that on the surface seems natural to him because he's Paul after all somebody said he's Paul after all but I would suggest to you that Paul is describing a kind of contentment here that is not a disposition you are born with but a decision that you make because when I think about Paul I don't think about somebody who just Loki laid back and waited to see how things turned out this is the dude who was not content just to preach to the Jews he had to take the gospel to the Gentiles mess everything up wasn't circumcising them had to confront Peter because Peter was kind of prejudiced but didn't want to act prejudiced unless he was around his prejudiced friends he was never content just to maintain the status quo and yet the most famous verse about contentment in the whole Bible came out of his mouth and that was interesting to me it's almost like he's describing contentment not as a disposition but a skill that can be learned how many of you would love to learn to be more content in your life if your hands up you're over 35 still then you just want more stuff more stuff more stuff more stuff more stuff more stuff and then you realize you've been drinking ocean water all your life and it only made you more thirsty and the greatest skill in life is not accumulation but contentment and Paul's going to illustrate that here in the fourth chapter of the book of Philippians which is a letter to a church that he found it now we don't know exactly where Paul was when he wrote this letter we know that he was in prison somewhere I don't even know if it's important that we know where he was physically as much as we study where he was emotionally and spiritually so here's what he says some of the last words of this letter to a church that he fathered a decade earlier he says I rejoiced greatly in the Lord that at last you renewed your concern for me indeed you were concerned but you had no opportunity to show it and I'm not saying this because I'm in need for I have learned to be content I wasn't born this way I was born screaming my head off but I have learned took me a little while I had to have God say yes to some things that weren't best for me so I could learn the hard way to trust him that what he's given me is enough but I have learned by now I'm an old man of a bear on my body the marks of the Lord Jesus and I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances slow Wi-Fi shipwrecks you name it I've been through it and I have learned to be content I know what it is to be in need and I know what it is to have plenty I know what it is to be in a Hyundai I know what it is to be in a may back God I've learned though that it is not my situation that regulates my satisfaction so I I have learned watch there's a phrase again I have learned you notice a theme here I had to go to school I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation whether well fed or whole 30 whether living in plenty or in want I can do all this through him who gives me strength yet it was good of you to share in my troubles moreover as you Philippians know in the early days of your acquaintance with the gospel when I set out from Macedonia not one church shared with me in the matter of giving and receiving except you only for even when I was in Thessalonica you sent me aid more than once when I was in need I desire your gifts touch somebody say I'm good that needs to be your opening line if you are single and dating people before you get deep into the conversation look at them and say I was good before you got here so if this works out good if it doesn't I'm good look at your neighbor one more time and say I was already good before they seated me next to you I was already good what I desire is that more be credited to your account I received full payment and have more than enough I am amply supplied now that I have received from Epaphroditus the gifts you sent they are fragrant offering an acceptable sacrifice pleasing to God and my God will meet all your needs how did a passage that started out talking about Paul's imprisonment in talking about their needs we're gonna find out today the contentment Commandments I think the misunderstanding that a lot of people have about the nature of God in a relationship with him is that he is a god of restrictions I've come to see him more and more as I study the written word in the way that his spirit moves and just observed general creation that he is a God of endless permission even the rules or regulations that he gives to his children are designed to bring us into maximum freedom when the children of Israel were coming out of Egypt which was a land of bondage or as Exodus 20 calls at the house of bondage one of the first things that God did after leading them through the Red Sea drowning Pharaoh behind them and getting them out of Egypt was to begin the process of getting Egypt out of them because that's the hard part it's the hard part not to bring you into freedom but to teach you how to live in it for many of us true freedom doesn't feel familiar and we would rather stay in something that enslaves us that is predictable rather than embrace something that is new and good and true and pure so we will go back to familiar addictions we will go back to familiar mindsets we will go back to familiar toxic emotional states because it feels normal to us then we will choose normal over new when God took Moses up on Mount Sinai to give him those Ten Commandments that we referenced a moment ago it was in an effort to teach his people how to live in freedoms look at your neighbors say God wants you free I mean really really free tell them really really free free from what people think about you free from the need to have more stuff free free from the free from the need to be appreciated by others because your dials of validation are internalized and the Holy Spirit is your judge and arbiter and Vindicator God wants you free be free be free so by the time you get into all the down shouts and thou shalt nots what you're really hearing is a God who wants his people to be free and it seems to me that the Bible is a master course in living in freedom starts with those Ten Commandments but then by the time you get over to Paul he's teaching true freedom in Christ isn't it interesting that God used somebody who was in Chains to teach his people about freedom Paul is writing a theological discourse on freedom from a prison cell sometimes God will call you to exemplify or demonstrate something that is directly contradictory to what you feel that is directly contradictory to what your life is manifesting in season so when you come to the book of Philippians you might expect a treatise on justice for Paul has been the victim of a great injustice sentenced to trial before Caesar treated by the way as a common criminal when he was indeed a Roman citizen but what you find when you come to the book of Philippians is not Paul advocating for his rights as much as he is speaking of his freedom and it's kind of interesting because it seems like Paul in Chains is more free than a lot of us who make our own decisions and live our own lives what's interesting though is by this point in the book of Philippians Philippians chapter 4 Paul is pretty much said everything he wants to say to this church he found it a decade ago he's expressing several freedoms you can look at these some time when you're not busy I know you're busy but if you get a chance go look at chapter one he'll tell you about his freedom from fear this is one of the greatest freedoms that God desires to grant to his children freedom from fear in fact for him it's gotten so severe by this point he said I don't care whether I die or live is he suicidal no he's free he's free he really believes this stuff so by this point he's like kill me I'll see Christ there will be a parade when I get to heaven of all of the people that I led to Christ while I was on the earth so it's kind of cool because I'd like to party with Jesus take me out but if you leave me here I'll keep working so the party will be bigger when I get there what would it mean to be free he uses a construct called whether or it's like saying it doesn't matter it's like he's got his priorities so fixed that he is free from fear then if you want to look at chapter 2 you'll see how he's free from his flesh oh I'd love to be free from my flesh I would love to be free from my feelings I would love to be free from this management system of my moods that dictates to me how my day is gonna go Paul said I don't I don't have anything to prove at this stage of my life I'm not showing off I'm not showing out I'm just showing up and doing the will of God and that's all I gotta do cuz I'm free throw your hands back say I'm free didn't only go so far I understand crowded auditorium freedom from fear freedom from flesh freedom from pride to imitate the humility of Christ and then something interesting happens he of he's done with this letter he had to straighten out some people who are fighting in the church he calls them out by name how would you like to get in the Bible that way and and then he says oh yes and it's not in the English translation that translators didn't think it beneficial to include it but it's almost a PS not in that weird because the passage I read you features two of Paul's most famous verses in all of the Bible you remember them Philippians 4:13 that's the weight-room verse I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me every Christian high school the squat rack that's the verse with an eagle in a bodybuilder and and then there's that one in nineteen that you were supposed to shout over but you were sleepy it said and my God shall supply your knees financial ones spiritual ones invisible ones tangible ones all your needs according to explore stretches in Christ and those two verses which are two of his top five most quoted verses were in the PS section of his letter to the Philippians almost called this message the power of a PS because it really represents watch this a PS is a perspective shift and he says this he says oh yeah by the way thanks for the gift apparently they had sent Epaphroditus if you're looking for a baby name my lizard Zeus I'd have read itis it means handsome they sent this handsome messenger with a gift for Paul to help him perhaps with his mounting legal defense if he's riding it from Rome he's got to keep paying the bills because he's on house arrest and he's waiting for his trial and if that's indeed the situation it's gonna be very expensive he already has a lot of travel bills this is a church that he found it and they send him a gift and pulses oh yeah by the way now that I straightened you out on freedom from fear now that I straightened you out on freedom from what's the other one freedom from fear flesh and now that I got your pride out of the way and now that yo D and since the key have been called out in my letter oh by the way now that I told you to rejoice in the Lord I first n rejoice greatly in the Lord are you ready for the first contentment commandment are you ready you'll want to write these down and preach them back to your spouse because your spouse is impossibly miserable sometimes and the first one is this thou shalt remember to rejoice thou shalt remember to rejoice that staff member who took the offering at Ballentine said he was forgetful I don't know if you heard him he said I tend to be forgetful I forget my keys I forget my wallet that's not the worst thing you can forget the worst thing you can forget is what he's done for you and how he's blessed you and how he's tattooed you look kind of forgetful today sometimes you come to church and you remember to brush your teeth but you forget to bring your praise you forget to stir up your spirit and that's what the worship leaders do the team does it they say come on let's lift our hands they're reminding you that God is worthy of your surrender real maturity real contentment comes when nobody has to remind you to rejoice I didn't tell him this last night but y'all are deeper he just told them rejoice in the Lord always and again I say rejoice why'd you say it again because it's it's crazy how quick you forget it's interesting how selective your memory is but a selective memory can actually work to your advantage if you remember in order to rejoice so when you evaluate any given day or any given period of time in your life when you evaluate a year you come to the end of when you're in the beginning of the next you will make a movie in your mind of how this year went some scenes you will delete some scenes you will enhance God has given you editing software in your spirit to choose Jeremiah what you call to your mind and what you recall to your mind determines the revelation that you will have and the faith that you can walk in and the contentment think it will enjoy where my rejoice sir understand the power of this in Hollywood they call it final cut it means you can shoot the scenes but somebody has to decide which ones go on the big screen and I want to tell you God is giving you final cut over your life when you open your mouth and bless the Lord at all times I'm not blessing him inside of the battles I'm blessing him because of the battles that's what gave me proof in a storage Bob this spirit lock it down lock it down oh yeah Paul said thanks for the gift I almost forgot thanks for the gift I want you to watch because Paul is awesome at theology but he is terrible at thank-you notes his mom raised him right in a lot of ways you know tribe of Benjamin Pharisee of Pharisees sent him off to study with Gamaliel all that but the boy he needs some help on this thank you no no that's just that's just I mean he's a human right he's not Jesus Christ and I know it's the Bible but come on Paul listen to this how would you like to receive this thank-you note I rejoice greatly in the Lord that at last you send me a little something nice cool it's cool it's cool I mean I know what's just he said indeed you were concerned but you had no opportunity to show it see what he did there was a period of silence for the people who should have been helping Paul weren't helping Paul and he could have interpreted that in one of two ways they don't care about me nobody cares about me nobody is there for me and I loaned them money and now I need some money you know these little things you tell yourself the interpretation the assumption how do you interpret silence how do you interpret the times here's here's the key to contentment it's the second key you've got to refuse to resent I don't know whether Paul was in prison in Caesarea or whether he was in prison in Rome but I can tell you what prison he refused to live in the prison of resentment and there is no prison like the prison of resentment there are no windows only bars when you lock yourself into your situation I'm looking at some of you right now and I know enough about you to know that you could have resented your situation that's the good thing about being the pastor of the church and not some little guest speaker yeah I know what some of you could interpret your situation to mean or Paul said I choose to assume that you wanted to help me but you couldn't that's a decision and it is a key to contentment if you don't resist and refuse resentment on every level you will be locked inside a prison of your minds own design and look this isn't just people sometimes in life you're making decisions about how to view the support you were not given at a young age there are two ways to view it you can live in resentment or you can live in contentment those are your choices you can you can say to yourself you know it wasn't right that I didn't have and it wasn't cool that I didn't get and I could be so much further along but that is a prison called resentment God wants his children free you can look at your brothers like Joseph and say it doesn't matter why you threw me in the pit God got me to eat up anyway and now I'm here to save your life the only one really free was the one who was imprisoned he sent me to proclaim freedom to the captives that's what Jesus said what does that mean I will not live another day in my life resenting what they did what they said what they didn't do who I'm not what I can't be it's over I refuse to live in resentment when Christ died to set me free I'm done with this prison okay thou shalt what's the first one that shop remembered to rejoice refused to resent and you're gonna love this one thou shalt appreciate all seasons a little technical nuance when he says you renewed your concern for me it doesn't give the image that is behind the language the Koine Greek is a expression here but says you cause your concern to bloom or blossom again so what Paul is doing he's saying there are seasons to life and I made it through winter and I'm grateful that spring is finally here these are important this is to discern the seasons of your life if you are going to live in a state of contentment I had to learn this early as a pastor because there are certain seasons that Jesus could preach and attendance would be down in church church attendance is seasonal well the first year I didn't know that the first year I thought the church was falling apart but it was really just summer vacation we love you pastor but we're going to Disney World and we will be back it'll it'll come back around this is what Paul learned but you have to live through enough seasons especially some losing seasons in sports they call it a rebuilding year it's code for we suck right now what we're trying to do something about it and some seasons let me put it in a real profound way some seasons just suck when you know it's just a season when you know that yes right now the nights are long and the days are short right now I'm lonely and I feel barren but touch somebody say it's just a season it's just a season it's just a season now the worst thing you can do is to get stuck in a season in your mind that God is trying to bring you out of in your life so Paul says it was a long winter perhaps Paul wondered do they care about me do they remember what what I did for them that do they do they have any loyalty whatsoever but he chooses to see it as a season and to everything there is a season a time to be born a time to die a time to live a time to plant a time to uproot a time to destroy there is a time that the ground must be fallow so that it can be fertile again and sustain what it produces it's a season thing it's a season thing I know how to have plenty I know how to be pruned both our growth and the key is to be as content in one season as the other I often wonder this stuff really make you more content or does it just make you more insatiable quieter it gets the more accurate the teaching it's kind of weird because it's easier sometimes to be content when you don't have something that you want and you think you're gonna get it one day because in that season you can tell yourself I'll be content win but what about when you got it and the contentment didn't come with the package just thinking with you here I think the key is you've got to if you're going to survive the seasons of winter while waiting on spring to come and live in contentment I think you got to keep here's number four thou shalt keep a secret stash well since I got your gift finally thanks for the gift it's about time no I'm good it's okay let's just I know you didn't have a chance I know there was something that was keeping you from it I choose to believe the best about you verse 11 and I'm not saying this because I'm in need this thing you know just gets worse and worse and worse I got your gift it took a while I didn't really need it might think what he's saying is I had my own to live off of and I wasn't waiting for you to give me something this is the best thing you can do if you go over to somebody's house for the first time and they're feeding you and you don't know about their culinary ability pre eat 3e it's just a way to make sure that whatever they serve see you ought to come to church full that way no matter who preaches or what they say with me let us exalt his name together I got what you said and I appreciate it but I didn't need it touch somebody say it's nice but I don't need it it's nice to be appreciated but I don't need to be appreciated to serve God I got my own stuff I get high on my own supply got a secret stash I got some scriptures I can preach to myself I got some songs I can sing by myself I got some truths I know down in my soul I can't do all things through Christ who strengthens me it's not from me but it's in me I got a secret stash now this is important commandment number five y'all doing good you want the rest alright number five so important critical distinction thou shalt not thou shalt not confuse the supply with the source what happened to the Israelites was while Moses was on the mountain as God was teaching his children to be free they started dancing around a golden calf because they got the created things confused with the Creator and when God provides her needs notice that Paul starts by saying I rejoiced in the Lord for the gift that you sent I did not rejoice in the gift I rejoiced in the one who gave it and he wants the Philippians to know it wasn't you you just brought it to the table I've told you before that my family has a blessing the lyrics are thank you Lord for all you've done for this food and for Christ your son amen let's see some food and thank you mommy it's the family blessing we sing it we pound the table the savages that we are but when we go out to eat but change it and modify it slightly it's an alternate version thank you Lord for all you've done for this food and for Christ your son amen let's eat some food and thank you daddy so the other day where Graham thought it would be cute to thank the server and his rationale was why are we thinking you you didn't cook it or even bring it to the table which gave me an opportunity for a theology lesson I said James brought it because I bought it so you can't preach like me a Cracker Barrel I promise you damn I don't have to have a pulpit to preach and it's about realizing that however God blesses you in any season whoever he uses it to do it his hand was behind it whether in plenty or in one here's the secret of being content sometimes you'll have plenty in one area and not enough in another I guarantee you in your life you are living in dual seasons you might have a lot of money plenty but not a lot of time want you might have a lot of peace plenty but not very good health one you might have good career path trajectory plenty but a relationship with your teenager that is completely incomprehensible and and you really see no way out other than homicide and and you know that that's a commandment you can't break I'm telling you everybody's living in both but the key is to know that it all comes from the same hair [Applause] so what job said shall we accept good from his hand and not also trouble shall I accept the blessing and reject the burden the supply is not the source those speakers are not the preacher they're nice speakers they're not preaching really I'm not the preacher I'm the straw I'm not the drink I'm the straw get any idea how much pressure that takes off of me it's so good to know that that if God chooses to bless you through these words today that's sex God that did it all I can do is hope not to screw it up so you can flip it out for the first time ever touch your neighbors say slurping out and the last that's the last time [Applause] God gave you a new car it's great it's great I know it smells wonderful but don't get the leather confused with the Lord God gave you a relationship that's right God gave you a wife that's right it's good but she's not God every good and perfect gift comes from above make a confession God is my source God is my source one more time God is my source if you believe that you'll have no problem offering your life to Him because he gave it to you to begin with and I know what to do when I'm not getting what I want I know how to live in plenty I know how to live anymore Paul says I'm not I'm not thanking you because I'm in need but I have needs I have neat in fact you hear a little bit of pain in the Apostles voice when he says when I first started out not one church shared with me in the matter of giving and receiving how would that would that feel how would it feel to have to make tents on the side because people were accusing you of being greedy and so rather than violate the conscience of the people you would rather stay up late and go without Paul said there were some people who could have helped me should have helped me and they didn't but I remember how you did and even when you weren't helping me I chose to remember the times that you did you don't have to not number six thou shalt not downplay disappointment it's okay to be disappointed you can be disappointed and content at the same time you can be disappointed I'm telling you Paul was disappointed that he was waiting for a trial that he never should have been put on but here he he refused to be defined by his disappointment and that is the difference between one who has hope in Christ and one who does not it is not the experience of disappointment that differentiates us it is the definition we assign to disappointment Paul knew that disappointment will lead to destiny if I stay with it if I do not allow myself to die in my place of disappointment I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living and my God will supply all of your needs how does he do it I got four more we're gonna hit them quick and I want to bring you to action somebody shout I'm content say it again I'm content I'm content I'm content in a small space a big space a lot of stress little stress big job no job corner office no office I'm content I want to get there how do I get there here it is the final four commandments thou shalt number one recognize thou shalt release thou shalt receive and most importantly after you've done all to stand thou shalt remain and my God will supply all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Paul said I have found where my needs are really met and I will not be moved I know the one who knows my needs and I will not be moved because I found the secret of being content in every situation the first thing is to recognize it some of us have a Patra Dittus standing right in front of us but we will not recognize the blessing for what it is it made me think about when Andrew told Jesus we don't have enough food to feed these 5,000 men and the irony of the fact that he could be standing in front of the one that John called the bread of life and be complaining about a lack of bread because sometimes we do not recognize the good things God has given us because our eyes have been blinded to what we're not and what it used to be and what it could have been that shall recognize God has sent a path for Titus into your situation will you recognize him when he comes God has sent provision for every need and my God shall supply all your needs if you see the need beneath the knee and this is where you got a release this is where you've got to release the frustration the anger and yes the worry because you cannot receive the Word of God when your heart is filled with worry and the cares of life [Applause] and only after you have released those things to him can you receive imma be honest with you some of you are really bad at receiving what God wants to give you you're stubborn you don't want to look like you need any help a password itis comes to your door and you send him back to Phillip I with this bag I don't need anything I'm good Paul said it was good for you to share in my troubles and meant a lot to me sometimes marriages crumble because of needs we didn't express that the other person was willing and able to meet if they had known them the see need is not a very attractive characteristic in our society we don't want to be contrite we don't want to be seen as needing anything so we filter our lives and we filter out our frustration and we wonder why we're weak and we wonder why we're alone and we wonder why Philippians 4:19 isn't happening in our life it's not a lack of supply it's the lack of my willingness to receive it naman would have died of leprosy if he did not receive the instruction from the servant girl to his wife to go to the dirty waters of the Jordan and dip and be cleansed to receive his healing he had to receive an instruction from somebody who we thought was beneath him Paul said I got your gift and I appreciate it and and here's the thing I don't know what's gonna happen to me next Paul says I'm here in this prison I may get out I may not but I want you to know something I'm already out whether they let me go from prison whether the situation changes whether I get to come back to you whether I get to see you again all I'd love to see you I appreciate the gift you gave me is so good but I will not I will not leave this place of confidence in the provision of God I will remain in Christ and my God will supply all your needs according to his glorious riches that's how free I am I'm so free now that you sent me a gift for my needs but I'm telling you that God is going to use what you did to meet my needs and he's gonna meet all your needs because I am free from me it's not about me [Music] be free be free thou shalt be free be free touch three people say be free be free be free be free be free be free be free me be free you'll have to live like this [Music] be brave come on you see ciao my greatest need is freedom my greatest need it's freedom contentment is the key freedom is the goal contentment is the key you won't be financially free when you get more money [Music] you'll be financially free when you really believe I've already got come on my God will supply your knees stand up if you would I want to pray for your contentment [Music] I had to learn it now most of us are still learning it took me a long time of trying to perform and thinking that if I could prove myself to certain people I would feel like a worthy human being but I found out that kind of identity can be stolen so quickly by the smallest failure that I decided it was it was not it was not worth me chaining myself to other people's opinions or my status in life or my income that's the greatest state not CEO but free to be really free the only way that can happen is if you know that he knows what you need and he's got it [Applause] that he knows and he's got it and that not one sparrow falls from the ground he doesn't see it and when hair falls from your head is moved he keeps it on wrecker he knows what I need and he's got it because if you don't believe he's got it you'll run to all kinds of other things to try to get your needs met they were put there by God and they can only be fulfilled by huh the greatest trouble of your life will come when you try to get a god instilled need met in a non God sanctioned way my God will supply all your needs not just the church once all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ the only way you can receive the provision is to remain in the place that he promised it would be in his presence is the fullness of joy and of his right hand pleasures forevermore but you got to be willing to let him know that you know that you need so why don't you lift your hands and tell him that you need him Abba Father every hour most gracious for low tender voice like dying can piece a for thank you for joining us for today's message if God is using this ministry to impact your life join us in reaching others by investing today you can give online at elevation church org /give or by downloading our app and selecting gift and don't forget to subscribe to our channel for more teachings like this one [Music]

Channel: Elevation Church

Views: 445,035

Rating: 4.8782744 out of 5

Keywords: Contentment, Resentment, Refusing to give up, Rejoice, Pastor Steven Furtick, Elevation Church, Appreciation, Supply, Source, How to know that God is your source, How to be content, Recognize, Release, Receive, Remain, How to release anger, How to not worry, How to be free, Freedom

Id: X6O5F6wNmhI

Length: 48min 41sec (2921 seconds)

Published: Mon Oct 30 2017