Preacher: Jeremy Herbert

Theme: Contentment

Text: Philippians 4:10-13

Notes:

“To live in a state of true satisfaction.” –Joe Thorn

“Who is rich? He that is content.
Who is that? Nobody.” –Benjamin Franklin

When Paul writes about contentment, he is not writing from a position of abundance–he is writing from prison.

Signs you are lacking contentment

1. Complaining
   • The children of Israel complained constantly after God led them from slavery in Egypt
   • “murmuring”
2. Covetousness
   • We want what others have
   • Exodus 20:17
3. Conditional Joy
   • “I will be happy if…

What does discontentment reveal about us?

1. We have a worship issue
   • Our tendency is to exchange the truth of God for lies
   • Our tendency is worship the creation instead of the Creator
   • Note: it is not wrong to enjoy good things that God gives
     • Our issue is that we make these requirements for contentment/joy
   • “The human heart is a perpetual idol factory.” –John Calvin
2. We have a pride issue
   • “Thus, a godly man wonders at his cross that it is not more, a wicked man wonders his cross is so much:” ― Jeremiah Burroughs, The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment
3. We have a thankfulness issue
4. We have a faith issue
   • We don’t really trust God
   • We don’t believe God
   • We rebel against God

Enemies of Contentment

1. The World
   • The world nurtures greed
   • The more you get, the happier you will be
   • If only you had a newer/better/younger car, job, spouse et al, ad infinitum
2. The Flesh
   • Our flesh nurtures pride
   • Our flesh craves  (and believes we deserve) affirmation and exaltation
3. The Devil
   • The devil nurtures unbelief
   • God is holding out on you, he does not give you His best
   • Psalm 106:13, fat bellies and lean souls

Paul firmly believed that Christ was the secret to contentment, and unlike everything else in the world–Christ cannot be taken away.

Preacher: Jeremy Herbert

Theme: Love is not irritable or resentful

Text: 1 Corinthians 13:5

Notes:

The descriptions of love in 1 Corinthians describe the character of Christ.

Proverbs 22:1, “A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches”

Irritable

• Paul’s primary concern in this verse is that love is not irritable with people
• However, when we are irritated with circumstances, we are often irritated with God himself
• Love chooses not to be angered, annoyed, or exasperated with others
• Paul himself was not immune to this temptation, nor was his partner in ministry, Barnabas:
  • Acts 15, “the contention was so sharp that they parted from one another”
• Why do we get irritated?
  • Our values are distorted by sin
  • We value our time and energy more than we value people
  • We would love to get our way more than we love others
  • We view others as obstacles to happiness rather than agents to push us toward holiness
  • Those who irritate us help us to see our own weaknesses

Resentful

• Irritation(s) over a period of time fester into resentment
• The biblical language is rooted in accounting/recording wrongs in a ledger
• “Love keeps no record of wrongs”
• Love does not ‘forgive and forget’–it remembers, and still forgives
• Chrysostom, love quenches wrongs rather than recording them

How do we respond when we get irritated or resentful?

• Angry looks
• Angry words
• Poisoned courtesy
• Silent treatment
• Sulking
• Withdrawing

God uses people and circumstances to grow us into Christlikeness

Real joy is circumstance-independent

How do we address this in our own heart?

• What do I really want?
• Philippians 2:1-4
• Galatians 5:26
• 1 Corinthians 13:7-8
• No matter how difficult circumstances and people are, love persists
• People are not obstacles
• 1 Corinthians 13:13-14:1, “the greatest of these is love…pursue love”
• We are most like our Savior when we love

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Preacher: Jeremy Herbert

Theme: Love does not insist on its own way, and is not irritable or resentful

Text: 1 Corinthians 13:

Notes:

“Do you realize how God treats his children who mistreat His love?
He loves them all the fiercer.” –Dane Ortlund

Love is always:

• God-centered
• God-shaped

Love doesn’t insist on its own way

• “Cure selfishness and you have replanted the garden of Eden,” –R.C.H. Lenski
• The gospel is by its very nature others-focused
• 3 John 9, “…Diotrephes, who likes to put himself first, does not acknowledge our authority.”
• How do we insist on our own way?
  • Pushy
  • Overbearing
  • Vindictive
  • Make non-essential issues into essential issues
  • We see ourselves as completely wise but not in need of wisdom
  • When we focus on our experience/expression in church service
  • When we dishonor those with differing gifts, or different applications of gifts
  • When we insist on doing everything in church to our liking
• How does love behave?
  • Love appreciates the unity in diversity
    • Unity in Christ and essential doctrines of Christian faith
    • Sees the good in differing gifts/points of view/expressions of faith
  • Love is teachable
  • Love is flexible when possible
  • Love is willing to sacrifice their wants for the good of others
  • 1 Peter 5:5
  • B.J. Thompson, “Surround yourself with people who feed your soul and not your ego.”
  • Philippians 2:3

I’m here to serve God and others and not myself.

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