Pastor Robert Simmons June 12, 2016 Philippians 4:10-13

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1 LEARN TO BE CONTENT Pastor Robert Simmons June 12, 2016 Philippians 4: 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. 11 I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. 12 I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. 13 I can do all this through him who gives me strength. I want to tell you about a lady named Frances. Frances was born March 24, 1820, in Putnam County, New York. Two months after her birth she became ill with an eye infection. Since her family doctor was away, another man pretending to be a certified doctor treated her by prescribing hot mustard compresses to be applied to her eyes. Her infection went away, but the treatment left scars on her eyes that left her permanently blind. A few months after this incident, her father died leaving her mother to be a widow at age 21. Frances mother hired herself out as a maid while Grandmother Eunice took care of little Frances. Frances grandmother took on her education and became the little girl s eyes, vividly describing the physical world to her. Grandmother s careful teaching helped develop Frances descriptive abilities, and she also nurtured the girl s spirit. Grandmother would read and carefully explain the Bible to her, and emphasized the importance of prayer. When Frances would become discouraged because she couldn t learn like the other children, Grandmother taught her to pray to God for knowledge. A landlady of the family also had an important role in Frances development. Mrs. Hawley helped Frances memorize the Bible, and often the young girl would learn five chapters a week. She had memorized the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Bible), the four Gospels, Proverbs, the Song of Solomon, and many of the Psalms. She developed a memory that amazed her friends, but Francis believed she was no different from others. Her blindness had forced her to develop her memory and her powers of concentration more than others. Blindness never produced selfpity in Frances and she did not look on her blindness as a terrible thing. At eight years of age she wrote this little poem: Oh, what a happy child I am, although I cannot see! I am resolved that in this world contented I will be! How many blessings I enjoy that other people don t LEARN TO BE CONTENT (#11 in the series: The Perfect Ten ) Page 1

2 To weep or sigh because I m blind, I cannot, and I won t. Her mother s hard work paid off. Shortly before her fifteenth birthday, Frances was sent to the recently founded New York Institute for the Blind, which would be her home for 23 years: 12 as a student and 11 as a teacher. There she met and married Alexander van Alstine whom she married in Alexander was considered one of New York s best organists. Frances played harp, piano, guitar, and other instruments, and had a lovely soprano voice. Even as an old woman Frances lived to be 95 she would sit at the piano and play everything from classical works to hymns to ragtime. Sometimes she even played old hymns in a jazzed up style. After her marriage, Frances left the Institute, and in a few years found her true call in writing hymns. She had a contract to write three hymns a week for use in Sunday school publications. Often she would write six or seven hymns a day. Whenever she wrote a hymn, she prayed that God would use it to lead many people to Him. Throughout her lifetime Frances wrote more than 9,000 hymns. She wrote so many hymns that she was forced to use pen names lest the hymnals be filled with her name above all others. Picture this: If you were to take fifteen hymnals and stack them one on top of another, that s how many hymns Frances wrote in her lifetime, and she was totally blind. brought Frances hymns to the masses. Some of her hymns that are the favorite of Christians everywhere are Blessed Assurance, All the Way My Savior Leads Me, To God Be the Glory, Pass Me Not, O Gentle Savior, Safe in the Arms of Jesus, Rescue the Perishing, Jesus, Keep Me Near the Cross, I am Thine, O Lord, and so many more. I need to tell you, in case you haven t figured it out already, Frances is known to us as Fanny Crosby. Speaking of her hymn Safe in the Arms of Jesus, she literally wrote that hymn in 35 minutes for a musician friend who was on his way to a Sunday school convention and had composed the music but needed the words. He stopped by Fanny s house, sat down and played the music he had written, and asked Fanny if she might be able to write so words to go with his music. Fanny replied, Your music says, Safe in the Arms of Jesus. She sat down, wrote the words, and handing them to William Doane told him he would have to read the words on the train or he was going to be late for the convention. A minister once said to Fanny, I think it a great pity that the Master did not give you sight when he showered so many other gifts upon you. Fanny Crosby replied at once, as she had heard such comments before. Do you know that if at birth I had been able to make once petition, it would have been that I was born blind? Because when I get to heaven, the first face that shall ever In her own day, the evangelistic team of Dwight L. Moody and Ira D. Sankey LEARN TO BE CONTENT (#11 in the series: The Perfect Ten ) Page 2

3 gladden my sight will be that of my Savior. 1 I remind you that at the age of eight, Fannie wrote these words: I am resolved that in this world contented I will be! What does this have to do with the tenth commandment telling us not to covet? The antidote for coveting is contentment. Coveting is a very serious matter and warnings against it are found throughout the Bible. It is closely associated with greed since coveting is the overwhelming desire to have that which belongs to another. Before any action is taken by any of us it begins in the heart or mind as a desire. We have noticed that many of these commandments apply to our mind or thoughts: adultery begins with lust; murder can take place in our hearts; idols can be formed in our mind, and so forth. But this tenth commandment is specifically aimed internally at our desires and thoughts. Coveting is at work in our hearts and minds long before the actual deed that transpires from the coveting takes place. I want to take the rest of my time in this message to provide us with an antidote to covetousness. And so Fanny Crosby s words at age eight will be our guide: I am resolved that in this world contented I will be! How can we live a life of contentment and guard against the sin of coveting? I will mention five things that will help us guard against covetousness. First, watch out for the myth of more is better. The minute I buy the myth that more is better, I begin losing perspective of all the wonderful things I actually have in my life. When you find yourself struggling with the desire to have something more than you presently have, ask yourself this simple question: If I get this, how long do I think it will keep me happy; and how long before I will want something else to replace it? The best indicator of future behavior is past and present behavior. So if you can acknowledge that you have a tendency to get tired of what you have and long for something else, then it is a matter of time before you will find yourself driven by something more and better. And the ball keeps rolling. Second, don t fall for the lie that happiness is found in possessions. Jesus told a very powerful parable that addresses this very temptation. It is the parable of the rich fool. He was a farmer whose land yielded an abundant harvest. Let me read the parable for you: The ground of a certain rich man yielded an abundant harvest. He thought to himself, What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops. Then he said, This is what I ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store my surplus grain. And I ll say to myself, You have plenty of grain laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry (Lk 12:16-19). 1 Adapted from crosby/htm; and LEARN TO BE CONTENT (#11 in the series: The Perfect Ten ) Page 3

4 Notice a few things about this. This man had an abundant harvest with the clear message that he had more than he needed. His current barns were full and instead of him admitting that he had enough for himself and blessing others with his abundance, he decides to build larger barns so he could horde it all. This man thought the more you have the happier you will be. But listen to what Jesus said as part of this parable: Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions (Lk 12:15). Have you learned that truth? That life is not about how much you have? Jesus goes on to say in this same context, This is how it will be with whoever stores up things for themselves but is not rich toward God (Lk 12:21). According to Jesus in this passage, we can accumulate lots of stuff but lack true riches because we have left God out of the picture. The tenth commandment warns us against desiring our neighbors house and other possessions they may have and then it warns us against desire to have our neighbor s spouse. This leads us to a third consideration of how to live a contented life: Don t think that happiness is found in having the right person in your life. Happiness and success and satisfaction in life is not found in having just the right person in our life, but is in becoming the person God created me to become. Having a different spouse would not make your life better because you still have you. As the great philosopher, Yogi Berra, often said: Remember, wherever you go, there you are. And that is the problem, isn t it! If you are unfulfilled and miserable, no matter where you go or what you do or who you connect with, you will continue to be unfulfilled and miserable. Don t look for the right person, strive to be a right person. You do not need someone else to make life satisfying, you need to let God make you into a satisfied person. Fourth, passionately desire and seek two things. Listen to what Jesus said we should seek and desire: But seek first his [God s] kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you (Matt. 6:33). Jesus taught us to make these two things the focus of all our prayers: Our Father, who is in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done Make it your desire to see God s kingdom come to this earth and to your own heart. When God and his will becomes the primary desire of our hearts, we are on the right track and we can be delivered from covetousness. I saved the best way to find contentment for last: know that Jesus is enough! Jesus asked us what it would profit anyone to gain the whole world I take that to mean everything we could possible long for and then some and yet lose our soul? When we come to life s final breath, Jesus will be enough. As we live our lives in the here and now, Jesus is enough. If you had everything your heart desired but did not have Jesus your life would be empty and craving for more. If you have Jesus, there is nothing else you will ever need. LEARN TO BE CONTENT (#11 in the series: The Perfect Ten ) Page 4

5 Can you say with Fanny Crosby: I am resolved that in this world contented I will be! Only Jesus satisfies the soul and brings deliverance from the hunger and desire for more. LEARN TO BE CONTENT (#11 in the series: The Perfect Ten ) Page 5