The Cure for Discontentment - Jada Edwards

today we're going to talk about as pastor Kahn we said the cure for discontentment so last week he spent a lot of time breaking down how we make that that move from contentment to this contentment and so now we don't want to just throw the problem at you without a solution we're going to talk about the cure for discontentment and there's a evidence in our society that we are discontent and as a matter of fact if you're gonna choose to live in this tent of contentment you've got to be ready to be counterculture you have got to be ready to go against the grain because this contentment fuels our economy see it's our high rate of divorce it's our lack of stability you know the average family lives in a home less than five years now because we need something more in something bigger it's the high rate of lawsuits because we feel entitled why didn't you tell me I was gonna get wet at this water park I'm going to sue you and then they win we have evidence throughout our society that discontentment keeps us going and so if you're gonna choose to say you know what every morning I'm gonna get up and decide that whatever God has brought me today I'm gonna choose to love it and be satisfied with it you just need to know the world is gonna work against you nobody is going to help you make a decision to like yourself because plastic surgeons will be out of business and lawyers will go bankrupt in real estate agents will run out of money discontentment feels our economy so are you ready to be that counterculture to say the way I want to live the majority of the world is not gonna support me oh my god you're not ready it's okay because we got some great children's ministry programs going on and they got some nice fuzzy kind of stuff and you can go but today in adult church we talked about going counterculture y'all ready okay are y'all ready alright well let's talk about a few things that contentment is not so before I get into this cure a few things that contentment is not commitment is not laziness okay it's not complacency it's not status quo it's not mediocrity contentment is not laziness or complacency or status quo or mediocrity but what contentment is we have the professional the expert and he can tell us exactly what it is let's turn to Philippians chapter 4 Philippians chapter 4 verse 11 the writer Paul is talking to his beloved Saints at Philippi the first church that he planted he had deep affection for them and so he is encouraging them as he closes out this letter and in Philippians chapter 4 verse 11 he says this not that I am speaking from being in need for I have learned and whatever situation I'm in to be content in verse 12 he says I know how to be brought low and I know how to abound in any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of facing Plenty and hunger of abundance and need in verse 13 he wraps it all up I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me a lot of times we try to borrow it and we try to say well let me just hang around the right people and all that's fine and good but at the end of the day your circumstances or your circumstances and what somebody else says has no bearing you have to choose to be content so contentment is learned it's unconditional it's personal and lastly it's in Christ alone verse 13 I can do all things through him who strengthens me contentment is in Christ alone how many of y'all agree with that okay now I raised my hand to because I'm supposed to but let me ask the testing questions when you're frustrated and you need to complain who do you call first when you're in a situation that you need to change what do you do first see if all of those things don't point back to Christ then he's not our only source of contentment and he just don't mix well with other stuff Christ says I've got to be the only one contentment is only found in me see because what happens is when we flip through the TV and nothing's on and we say I need to add that extra 200 channels I need that package but for some reason when we watch TV nothing is still on and when we look through our closet and we say I've got to find something new to wear everything in here looks old but we come back from the mall tags on our clothes and for some reason we can't find anything to wear everything still looks oh see one condition doesn't change your contentment about another only Christ you cannot try to compensate for your frustration in any situation by creating a new situation because now you're depending on the new thing and it don't work contentment is in Christ alone so we know that it's learned we know that it's unconditional we know that it's personal and we know that it's in Christ alone that's a lot to take in that's a lot if you really understood when I was studying it I was like I don't know if I want to teach this as I'd like to take him but let's dive in just a little bit to see how we might be able to become students as Paul you didn't learn contentment we can think of this when we think about what true contentment is it's being able to think of yesterday without regret being able to think of today without doubt and being able to think of tomorrow without fear a Content person can think about yesterday without regret that I mean they want mistakes yesterday means there's nowhere they can think of today without doubt and they can think of the future without fear so let's go back to our first idea how do we learn this idea of contentment how do we learn to be content well the first thing we have to do this idea of learning means a forward progress so we have to decide to grow if I want to learn contentment and you're telling me that this is what the text is saying that it has to be learned then what do I do I have to decide to grow I have to decide to grow so that has a lot of requirements for me as a believer if I enjoy staying in one place year after year decided to grow means I believe that God is making progress in me Seifert in Philippians earlier in this book in chapter 1 verse 6 Paul encouraged the church and he said I am sure of this that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion so I have to believe that God is doing something in my life because anytime we perceive stagnation anytime we perceive that we're not moving we get frustrated and if y'all aren't agreeing with me just get in my car tomorrow morning when I go to work because there's something about traffic it doesn't matter if your favorite song is on once you get in traffic then your mind becomes consumed with what could because of the traffic you're like it's how can everybody be driving 65 and I'm at a standstill it only is there an accident in here I wonder was somebody trying to get out of the HOV when there wasn't really an exit there I wonder what could be going on because I'm not moving forward so all I'm consumed with is why I'm standing still so if I'm going on continue and I have to decide to grow that means I have to trust that even when I feel like I'm not moving God is doing something in my life I recently went to my orthopedic surgeon and for those of you who know me you know they're running is one of my addictions well the addiction has come to an end because my orthopedic surgeon held my x-rays up and he said oh you one of those people and so what do you mean he said I can look at the bones in your knees and I can tell how often you run and how long you've been running you don't have to stop and I was like okay is he speaking Chinese I don't Stan what do you see I said stop what you mean running in the heat running on weekends he's like no you're gonna have to stop he said you've got to stop running for at least six months outside and maybe after three months we might be able to put you back on a treadmill so I've looked at Hamlin for those of you who love a sport or love a pastime somebody tells you you can't do it you're trying to think no you don't understand my sanity is in jeopardy because this is my outlet makes me a happy wife it makes me a nice person you're trying to ruin my home and so he told me his option for me was the elliptical machine how many of you like the elliptical machine that's the problem right there oh yeah I like to bounce up and down not gonna wear that isn't that is not me I need I said how can you replace the sound of my feet on the pavement and the wind on my face and hills and valleys and twist and turn and change of scenery and reaching a destination how can you replace that with the equivalent of a bouncy house in the gym she told me I had to get over it and let me tell you I did the elliptical a couple times it was tough I was like I need something that makes it look like I'm moving let me give out a fan I feel like there's wind blowing because I'm not moving forward and at least a discontentment it frustrates me and so in order for us to learn and we've got to decide to grow and we've got to believe that God is moving forward in our lives and we've also got to be open to his purification process to his instruction we've got to be open to God's purification that's the only way we can decide to grow it's only what we can learn contentment and let me tell you the way God purifies things is not always pretty the way he does it is not always pretty read Hebrews 11 not the first half of the chapter all the people who went on by faith in glory read the second half the people who got beaten and bruised and stoned and sometimes that's how God Pyrrha fires purifies us but that takes us to a point to be able to say I've learned knowing canoing contentment is finding the place where you believe that God is moving in your life even though there's not always the evidence that you want without God's grace which he says it's sufficient for us then we try to do things on our own and it just never works now part of drawing on God's grace means you have to be honest about the reality that you're in remember contentment is not being dis delusional Paul gave some very detailed situations so contentment is not saying well I have this desire but I'll just push it far enough to the back of my head so I'm not thinking about it that's not contentment contentment says I'm very aware of what I want but in spite of that God is faithful to keep me joyful in the midst contentment is not saying I really don't want to be married whatever it's not a big deal it's not saying yeah I mean I don't care if I get another job you know whatever I'll just make it day-to-day don't care if my child gets well it's okay I understand contentment says no God these are things I desperately want but you're the only thing I need and so I need you to sustain me in the midst of it we looked at Philippians 4 9 you remember he says in whatever situation I can be content I've learned to be content well that word content is derived from the original word here in Corinthians 12:9 well God says my grace is sufficient so the word sufficient is the original word that the word content is drive from see contentment means sufficiency I'm contained I'm self sustained but then God says my grace is sufficient you know what God is saying to Paul here in 2nd Corinthians 12:9 he's saying my grace is your contentment my grace is your contentment and so in Philippians 4 Paul says I have learned to draw on God's grace and whatever situation I'm in because God said His grace is sufficient and Paul said I've learned to be sufficient but he can only do it with God's grace so if you don't know how to draw on God's grace your contentment will be conditional I guarantee because the situation is going to come where you just don't have a strength to deal with it they don't matter how much devotional time you've had how many time you spent in prayer you could be fresh out of worship fresh out of whatever Jesus t-shirt on loving in Jesus air freshener bumper sticker the fish on your car everything everything is saying Jesus all over and then a person cuts you off and what happened to the cross weapon to the cross in traffic see the cross cross don't cover somebody missing the exit and trying to cut you off and cross those four lanes but if you don't draw on God's grace your contentment is going to be conditional and I'm telling you don't spoil what you already have by thinking about what you don't have it will mess you up and you know what some of you might not struggle with those overt sins the ones that you can write down on a piece of paper you might not ever want to kill somebody you might not ever want to have sex before you're married you might not struggle with alcoholism or addiction you might not struggle with profanity but if you struggle with discontentment you just as ineffective as a Christian because you're consumed with your own thoughts if you are focused on what you don't have you've been deceived same thing still works for the enemy you don't care how you get there long as you're not functional for God because the truth is this is what you must remember what you have is the thing that somebody else is discontent about it always works that way and most of the time the thing that we're complaining about is something that we once really pray for and hope for and we got it and now we're tired of it the very thing that we pray for and hope for God one day and then you get it and you let witnesses open when does this expire I'm ready for something new and something fresh the thing that you're often craving is usually the thing that might even lead to your discontentment so we've got to be able to decide to grow that's how we learn it we draw on God's grace so we can experience unconditional contentment but how do we make contentment personal we do that by making our priorities God's priorities we have to decide to go reach out and we have to decide to be givers outreach and giving is something that will change your perspective on whatever your situation is if you look in Philippians 4 Paul tells the Philippians he says yes all these things are great in my goodness Jesus is the only reason I'm content but nevertheless let me tell you in verse 14 in Burton chapter 4 he says nevertheless it was kind that you shared my affliction you know that in the beginning of the gospel when I left Macedonia no church entered into partnership with me in giving and receiving except you he's saying because you reached out to me because you gave even though Jesus is the only thing I need for contentment I still deeply appreciate your canoe you are reaching out to me and so as we make contentment personal we have to say how do I give how do I get outside of myself so that I can have a fresh perspective on my own situation there's a story told about a Jewish man who goes and talks to his rabbi and he says rabbi I'm frustrated is nine million living in one house we're not gonna make it it's nine of us everything is a mess you run all over each other we don't have enough space so the rabbi told him you know what go buy a goat you know it's the old story he said go buy a goat come talk to me in about a week so he comes back after a week he says so how's your living situation he says ok the goat stinks and he shoes on stuff he eats things up and he's not house trained what's up with the goat so the rabbi says go sale to go come back to me in a week so he comes back to him in a week and he says how's the living situation he said oh my gosh I am so glad it's just the nine of us life is great sometimes you just need a little something to change your perspective to bring about some contingent right and can you imagine how the Philippians perspective was changed when they were listening to their leader right them from jail saying I've learned to be content he's he's not writing them from behind his desk at work he's in jail still probably have scars and broken bones and bruises muscles from the things that he went through but he's saying I've learned to be content and so when they gave to him when they reached out to him and they sent people to love him and serve him and they sent things to make his ministry go forward it led to their own contentment he says I I need Christ only but you need to know that the things you did for me we're a very impactful so we have to make our contentment personal lastly we know that contentment is in Christ alone that wraps it all up all the Grace and going and giving and demonstrating growth all of that is for naught if we don't depend on Christ alone what does it mean to totally depend on God Philippians 4:13 let's look at that verse again what policy is he says I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me but literally their birth reads I can do things in him who continually infuses strength into me that's what that verse is saying so he's saying yes I have learned there was a point in time where some experiences led up to me being able to say I've learned but now I can continue to walk in contentment because of the strength that Christ infuses in me there's an idea of knowing and then applying okay let me give you an example how many of you I'll to algebra high school college I know you try to block it out of your mind I know some of y'all like right that's how I felt about it that's okay but in order for me to learn algebra I had to go through a series of tests and homework and quizzes and assignments so that hopefully by the end of a given semester I could say I have learned algebra but if you ask me those same questions and problems today I probably couldn't answer them because I haven't applied them and continue to use them since I've learned them Paul is saying not only have I learned it I understand what it means to be content I also continue to draw on Christ strength to maintain that contentment if you remember a couple of weeks ago we did our application and we had a little envelope and the application was showing that as we abide in Christ and the Holy Spirit in us we can conquer anything that's the idea that Paul is talking about here he's saying only because of Christ am i able to do these things now if you learn something and forget it God will help you to repeat that course so it will be to your best interest to learn it and to continue to apply it we have got to depend on God because contentment is in Christ alone when you think about this idea of strengthens and that is present tense that means every morning I have to make a decision god am I going to allow you to be my stress today I cannot anticipate what's going to come at me but am I going to allow you to be my stress today I have to buy into his plan for my life if I'm going to depend on him if you're not familiar with the story of Jeremiah 29:11 there were Israelites and they were in captivity actually captivity they have gotten themselves into and even in the midst of that captivity God said I have a plan for your life I have plans for you and it's not for calamity is for prosperity so things will go well with you life even in the midst of it and I have to believe that if I'm going to totally depend on God I have to believe God at His Word and I have to know that what is worse is true now belief out of my mouth without the practice of understanding God's Word will do me no good because member Paul says in him who strengthens me and him is who Christ and John 1:1 says what about Christ that he was the word made that's right so we can't just go around quoting that Christ is the source of my strength when I'm not in my word it doesn't matter if you open up the book and the verse that you read that day doesn't fix the thing that's frustrating you that day that's not how God's Word works it's something that you take in daily and in the right time he'll bring those things back to your mind and he'll comfort you with his word and it becomes a source of your contentment in Christ who was the word you can't separate the two understanding that God's grace is sufficient for us and the second part of chapter 12 verse 9 and second Corinthians says my power is perfected in your weakness that's amazing that means don't try to be hard and tough and defy and deny your weakness because God says you don't need my power if you cannot admit you're weak he says your weakness is how my power is perfected you know I was in Houston this weekend and visiting a very dear friend of our core member of our leadership team here who lost her father and I got to visit my grandmother too trying to make sure my grandmother was okay because you know how grandmother's can be they don't want to do anything you ask him to do I said grandmother are you gonna stay in the house with no power you're gonna go somewhere else I lived through the Great Depression so she starts giving me all these qualifications for being able to handle Hurricane Ike Ike is not bringing anything I haven't seen in 1929 was like okay stuff stuff that just stay I'll just pray for you so this week I got to go see her and in touch and make sure if things okay and being her house that doesn't have power but you know she's got her little ice chest and her radio with her batteries and all the stuff she's got to sit up but driving to her house was almost impossible roads that I used to navigate very easily became extremely difficult because most of the lights are flashing red or they're out completely and you're trying to find out how to get through intersections roads or clothes well you thought you could normally get gas is not open anymore tried to drive through and get some food at Wendy's and the drive-thru was laying in the drive-through so said I guess Wendy's is closed today I mean it's funny and then you go to other parts of town closer to what my friend was staying and they have power back because they're near one of the universities so they were a priority area to restore and it's busy and it's hustle and bustle and it looks like life is regular it doesn't look like just a few minutes away there's a ghost town there used to be a thriving city I mean those areas are so congested you can hardly get through everybody's flocking to those grocery stores in those gas stations you know why because they have power their power why would I want to stay in the outlying areas and try to find food and be in the blackness at night when I can go to the area that has power well God told Paul in second Corinthians chapter 12 verse 9 my power is perfected in your weakness and so if you want to be content you've got to know that it's learned that is unconditional that is personal and most of all it is in Christ alone through His grace His grace is your contentment so that at the end of the day and it's just the day not your life because every day you'd have to make the decision at the end of each day you can say I have learned in whatever situation I find myself in to be content I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me amen

Channel: MrCurry1000

Views: 12,696

Rating: 4.8603172 out of 5

Keywords: Jada, Edwards

Id: R2IkynlNqYE

Length: 25min 37sec (1537 seconds)

Published: Fri Dec 21 2012