The Secret of Being Content

In one paragraph

Doug Walkup, one of the elders at First B, brought the message this Sunday morning. He took the familiar verse Philippians 4:13, "I can do all this through Him who gives me strength," and pressed on what Paul actually meant by it, and what kind of life stood behind those words. Doug opened by noting how often Philippians 4:13 gets pulled out of context, appearing on a kickboxer's waistband or a...

Read together

1. Deuteronomy 31:8 read aloud to the graduating seniors as encouragement that the Lord goes ahead of them and will not forsake them
2. Philippians 4:11-13 the central passage of Doug's sermon on strength and contentment in all circumstances
3. Acts 9:1-2 Saul breathing murderous threats against disciples, introduced to show Paul's conversion context
4. Acts 9:3-6 the road to Damascus, the light from heaven and the voice of Jesus
5. Acts 9:7-9 Saul struck blind, led by hand into Damascus for three days
6. Acts 9:15-18 Ananias sent to Paul, scales falling from his eyes, Paul filled with the Holy Spirit and baptized
7. Acts 9:23-25 murder plot in Damascus, Paul lowered in a basket through the city wall
8. Acts 9:26-27 Paul rejected by disciples in Jerusalem, Barnabas vouching for him to the apostles
9. Acts 9:29-30 second murder plot in Jerusalem, Paul sent off to Tarsus
10. Acts 14:19-20 Paul stoned and left for dead in Lystra, then returning to the city
11. Acts 15:37-40 sharp disagreement between Paul and Barnabas over John Mark, parting company
12. Acts 16:22-24 Paul and Silas flogged, thrown into prison, feet in stocks
13. Acts 16:25 Paul and Silas praying and singing hymns to God at midnight in prison
14. Acts 17:5 Jews in Thessalonica forming a mob and starting a riot against Paul
15. Acts 18:12 Jews of Corinth making a united attack and dragging Paul before a place of judgment
16. Acts 19:28-30 riot in Ephesus over Artemis, crowd seizing Paul's companions, Paul wanting to enter the theater
17. Acts 21:30-33 Paul seized and dragged from the temple in Jerusalem, arrested and bound with chains
18. Acts 23:12-13 more than forty Jews plotting not to eat or drink until they had killed Paul
19. Acts 27:41-42 the ship running aground and breaking apart, soldiers planning to kill the prisoners
20. Hebrews 10:11-12 contrasting the old covenant priests' repeated sacrifices with Jesus offering himself once for all time
21. 1 Corinthians 11:23-26 words of institution over the bread and cup read during communion
22. Colossians 2:6-7 closing benediction about being rooted and built up in Christ, overflowing with thankfulness

Talk about it

1. Doug pointed out that Paul's contentment was not tied to his circumstances but to something else entirely. What do you think most shapes your own sense of contentment from day to day, and how does that compare to what Paul describes in Philippians 4?
2. Doug walked through a long list of difficult things Paul went through, from murder plots to stonings to shipwrecks, and said Paul saw these circumstances as opportunities rather than just bad things that happened to him. Is there a hard situation in your own life that you have been able to see, or are starting to see, as an opportunity? What made that shift possible, or what is making it hard?
3. Paul wanted to rush into the riot and talk to the people, and even when soldiers were carrying him away he asked to be set down so he could speak. Doug connected that to Paul knowing his purpose and calling clearly. How clear do you feel about your own purpose and calling, and how does that clarity, or lack of it, affect how you handle difficulty?
4. Doug said that being connected to Christ is what made the contentment in Philippians 4:13 possible, and that the key words are 'through Christ.' What does staying connected to that source of strength actually look like in your daily life, practically speaking?
5. The sermon closed with Paul's words from Colossians 2 about being rooted and built up in Christ and overflowing with thankfulness. Where do you find it hardest to be thankful, and what from this sermon, if anything, challenges the way you think about that?