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Philippians 4:10-13, 19-20

Well, for the last time, let me invite you to take your copy of God’s Word and turn with me to the book of Philippians. The year was 1996 and a marketing strategist by the name of Dr. Dan Herman identified a phenomenon that would later be coined FOMO (fear of missing out). According to one source, FOMO is the “feeling of apprehension that one is either not in the know about or [is completely] missing out on information, events, experiences, or life decisions that could make one’s life better.” The predecessor to FOMO, for those of you who remember life before the internet, was the phrase “keeping up with the Joneses.” We just had to keep up, otherwise we had this feeling that we were missing out. We weren’t part of the “in crowd.”

All of this leads to an inability to be totally satisfied with where you are, who you are, or what you have. And this is compounded by the fact that one of the things we want most in life is satisfaction. Getting what we want when we want it. That’s a part of our daily lives.

Think about how this has changed over the decades. When most of you were growing up (even for me), we had about 3 (maybe 4-5) options for TV. Some of you remember NO options. Today, if we don’t like a television show, we simply hit a button and there’s an unlimited supply of entertainment options from Netflix, YouTube, Hulu, Sling, and others. In the days of AM/FM radio, we had a dozen or so channels, then along came 8-tracks, tapes, and CD’s. Today, there are services like Sirius, Spotify, Apple Music, and more to give us full access to every genre of music available.

Today, we’re told that either what we have, where we are, the way we look, or what we drive is insufficient. We’re bombarded with messages to upgrade, trade-in, borrow or buy the latest and greatest. Our economy is driven on perpetual discontent. It reminds me of a song that was released by the Rolling Stones on June 5, 1965 (any guesses) – I Can’t Get No Satisfaction. All of this summed up nicely in a poem titled Present Tense, written by 14-year-old Jason Lehman in February 1989:

It was spring
But it was summer I wanted,
The warm days,
And the great outdoors.

It was summer,
But it was fall I wanted,
The colorful leaves,
And the cool, dry air.

It was fall,
But it was winter I wanted,
The beautiful snow,
And the joy of the holiday season.

It was winter,
But it was spring I wanted,
The warmth,
And the blossoming of nature.

I was a child,
But it was adulthood I wanted,
The freedom,
And the respect.

I was twenty,
But it was 30 I wanted,
To be mature,
And sophisticated.

I was middle-aged,
But it was 20 I wanted,
The youth,
And the free spirit.

I was retired,
But it was middle-age I wanted,
The presence of mind,
Without limitations.

My life was over,
But I never got what I wanted.

Let’s read Paul’s secret to being totally satisfied and see if we can’t gain a new perspective on living a joyful life rooted in Christ.

10 I rejoiced in the Lord greatly that now at length you have revived your concern for me. You were indeed concerned for me, but you had no opportunity. 11 Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. 12 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, abundance and need. 13 I can do all things through Him who strengthens me… 19 And my God will supply every need of yours according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus. 20 To our God and Father be glory forever and ever. Amen.

“Our God and our Father, we thank You for Your Word – a word that leads us to a clear understanding of who You are, how we can have a relationship with You, and how we are to walk in humble obedience and faithfulness to You. We pray, this morning, for the grace necessary to study it as we should and to live accordingly. For we ask it in Jesus’ name. Amen.”

There is a secret to satisfaction and Paul had learned that secret. Once again, in order to be amazed at the depth of Paul’s writing you have to remember that he’s in a Roman jail, chained to a guard 24-hours a day, 7 days a week. He had every reason to be discontent and dissatisfied. Here’s a man who had been unfairly treated, unlovingly rejected, unjustly imprisoned. The Jewish people who once adored him now hated him, because he had given his life to Christ. He was imprisoned, because they had unfairly accused him of a crime he had not committed. Yet, with the dark cloud of death hanging over him, he was totally satisfied with the light of God’s presence. What had Paul learned in order to bring him to a place of total satisfaction and contentment?

Remember God’s Purpose for You

Paul had learned that you’re not under your circumstances; rather, God is over your circumstances. He didn’t know what was going to happen to him, but he knew that God did. Paul didn’t know whether he would have a little or have a lot, but he knew that he had God. See, Philippians 4 follows Philippians 1, 2 and 3. You say, “Well, yeah, but what’s the point?”

In chapter 1 we read, “what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel, so that it has become known throughout the whole imperial guard and to all the rest that my imprisonment is for Christ… For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain” (1:12-13, 21). In chapter 2 we read, “Even if I am to be poured out as a drink offering upon the sacrificial offering of your faith, I am glad and rejoice with you all” (2:17). In chapter 3 we read, “I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For His sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in Him” (3:8-9).

Before Paul speaks about being content in any and every circumstance, he’s already laid the foundation. He knew God’s purpose for his life was to give everything back to the Lord who redeemed him. He knew that whatever he did and wherever he went and whatever the circumstances, it was all for God anyway. Paul was totally satisfied because he was within God’s will and God’s purpose for his life. In the words of Norman Clayton (Every Moment of Every Day, 1938):

Only to be what He wants me to be,
Every moment of every day,
Yielded completely to Jesus alone
Every step of the pilgrim way.

Just to be clay in the Potter’s hands,
Ready to do what His will commands;
Only to be what He wants me to be,
Every moment of every day.

That was Paul’s purpose – only to be what God wanted him to be, only to go and do and speak what God wanted. See, we often forget that God is ultimately in charge of our lives. There are so many things that we do and decisions that we make from day to day that seem to be (and in many cases are) disconnected from our relationship with God that we think we’re the masters of our domain, that we’re in charge, that we’re the kings of our little kingdoms. But contentment is hard to come by when you’re accustomed to being in control, because contentment and total satisfaction are then dependent upon what you want rather than what God wants.

If we’ll remember (like Paul) that God’s ultimate purpose for our lives is to be lived for Him, then we’ll be more inclined to find ourselves totally satisfied in where He has us put us, and who He has made us, and what He has given to us.

Rely on God’s Power in You

Now, some of you are thinking and you may be right. You may be saying, “Pastor, I just can’t be satisfied with who I am. I can’t be satisfied with where I am. I can’t be satisfied with what I have. And if this is who God made me, and this is where God has placed me, and this is what God has given to me, well, I’m just not satisfied.” If that’s you, let me agree with you. On our own, we can’t, and we won’t be totally satisfied. That’s why Paul goes on to say, “I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.”

This may be one of the most misunderstood verses in the Bible. In fact, our men’s Bible study looked at several verses that had historically been misunderstood and misapplied and this was among the top. See, Paul is not saying, “I can do anything I want to do.” That’s the way people tend to read this verse. “I can lift 500 lbs. because the Bible tells me that I can do all things through Him who gives me strength. I can be the next Taylor Swift or Patrick Mahomes. I can be the next billionaire entrepreneur. I can do whatever I want through Him who strengthens me.” But that’s not what Paul was saying. Rather, when we read this verse in its context, what Paul is saying is “I can be totally satisfied with who I am, and where I am, and what I have, because I have the power to be content in and through Christ.” In other words, we can do anything that God wants us to do but the main thing that He wants us to do is to be totally satisfied and content in Him.

Contentment rarely comes when you reach the top of the ladder, have a large bank account, or attain that title you’ve always been looking for. It comes when you change the way you think and when you rely on the power that God has given you. As a fisherman, you know that I like a good fishing story and there’s this story of a very rich business owner who walked by a lake one day and saw a fisherman sitting lazily by his boat, looking up at the sky, with a smile on his face.

He said, “Why aren’t you out there fishing?” The fisherman said, “Well, because I’ve been fishing, and I’ve caught enough fish for the day.” (A level of contentment this fisherman hasn’t learned yet – you can never catch enough fish in a day.) Anyway, the rich man said, “Well, why don’t you go catch more fish?” The man said, “What would I do with more fish?”

He said, “Well, you could sell those fish for more money and then you could buy a better boat so you could go deeper and farther and catch more fish. Then you could purchase another boat besides that and you would catch more fish. Soon you would have a fleet of boats and could hire a bunch of fishermen and they could build you a big fishing company. You would be making all the money that you want. You would have a fleet of boats and a company full of fishermen and then you would be rich like I am.”

The fisherman said, “Then what would I do?” He said, “You could just sit down and enjoy life.” The fisherman said, “Isn’t that what I’m doing now?”

Consider your situation and circumstances and be grateful for who God has made you, where God has placed you, and what God has given you. God has a purpose for you (and me) and that’s for us to find our total satisfaction in Him. God has given us His power, in the presence and working of the Holy Spirit, to enable us to overcome a fear of missing out, to overcome greed and materialism and selfishness, to overcome the desire to always get ahead and have more. We do that by focusing on Him and realizing that every day, if we’re living for Him, then we’re where we are, we’re who we are, and we have what we have all because of Him.

Recon on God’s Provision to You

Let me ask you a simple and somewhat foolish question. “If you knew that if you were living in the center of God’s will, and that God is in control of your life, that you would always be where you should be, do what you should do, and have what you should have, would you then be totally satisfied?” (Let me repeat that…)

And obviously, I think we would all say “Yes, I would be totally satisfied and content.” Well, here’s the good news (v. 19), “And my God will supply every need of yours according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.” Let me tell you . . . there are some great promises in the Bible, and this is one of them. If you and I are living in the center of God’s will, being obedient and faithful to Him, then we have every right and reason to expect that any real need we have in our lives God will meet.

Now, let’s be clear. God has promised to supply our every need, not our every greed. It’s not everything we want that God will supply, but everything we need. We’ve all lived long enough to know that we’re grateful God hasn’t given us everything we ever wanted. We could go around this room and recall story after story of things we wanted, and yet thankful that God didn’t give them to us.

I grew up in a home where I was taught to be polite, to be respectful, to be obedient. I was asked to do the very things outside my home that I was told to do inside my home. And, like all of you, I’ve always tried to live up to that but, inevitably, sometimes I needed to be disciplined. I’ll be honest and tell you there was never a time that I was disciplined that I wanted it. I wish I could tell you I was mature enough to walk into my father’s bedroom and say, “Dad, do you have a minute? I need some discipline.” And I wish I could also tell you that I was mature enough that every time I got disciplined that I wanted it, but I didn’t. Yet, I’m thankful I lived in a home where my parents cared enough about me and wanted me to be the kind of person I should be that they disciplined me when I was not.

Another reason I am grateful is that there are often times in our lives when we want things we really don’t need. I’ve been very transparent with you about my struggle and discernment about going back to school for a doctorate. And to your credit, as a congregation, you’ve been extremely gracious, merciful, and loving in that discovery process. One of the things I wrestled with was the desire for credentials. (There’s nothing wrong with pursuing further education, so if you’re a doctor of whatever sort this is not a criticism of your accomplishment.) But one of the things that I had to come to grips with was my desire for credentials. In my case it was the desire for the degree. It was a desire for prestige. It was a desire for professional recognition. It was a desire that was grounded in the wrong thing. There was a part of me that was discontent with who God had made me, where God had placed me, and what God had given me, and pursuing a degree was going to fix that (or so I thought).

Now, to be fair, I don’t know what tomorrow holds any more than you do. And perhaps there will come a day when God makes it clear that an advanced degree is what He intends for me, but I can tell you that if/when that time comes it won’t be because I’m discontent in who God has made me, or where God has placed me, or what He has given me. Rather, if there’s a real need for that in my life (or yours, whatever your need may be), then God will meet it. If He hasn’t met it yet, then either it’s not a true need or you don’t need it (yet). It might not be met in your way or in your time, but it will be in His. How do I know this? “[Because] my God will supply your every need according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus. To our God and Father be glory forever and ever. Amen.”

Remember God’s purpose for you. Rely on God’s power in you. Recon on God’s provision to you and you’ll be content. Why? How? Because Jesus came as God’s gift, lived the perfect life that we could not, died in our place, and rose again to prove that He (not we) is our source of total satisfaction.