The prayer for the church, Colossians 1:3-12

I think it’s important to ask why we go to church, the reason for the church, and whether or not church is essential.  A few years ago, doing the pandemic, it seemed at the time that government had deemed the church was inessential.  But attending church is not an addendum to our faith, it is not entertainment, it is not merely a social gathering.  Church is not a building, or an organization, but a people, called out from the world unto Christ. I don’t think you can actually join a church, like you join a health club, but you must be born again into the true church of Christ.  I believe that scripture teaches that the church is Christ’s body on earth, in other words, the church is the physical manifestation of Christ on earth, and as such the physical assembly of this body is absolutely essential.

Now I don’t want you to just take my word for it.  Ephesians 5:23 says,  “For the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ also is the head of the church, He Himself [being] the Savior of the body.”   And then another one, found in this book we are now studying, Col. 1:18 “He (that is Christ) is also head of the body, the church; and He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that He Himself will come to have first place in everything.” That shows that the church and the body of Christ are synonymous, and furthermore, it says that Christ will have first place in everything. You might make the correlation then to say that the church, Christ’s body is to be the number one priority in our lives.  I wish I could say was true in our experience.  But I’m afraid that for most 21st century Christians, the church is not their number one priority. However, if you have confessed  that Jesus is Lord  it should mean that He is to have preeminence in all things.

Well, Paul begins this epistle, after a short introduction, with a prayer for the church at Colossians. And by extension, it is a prayer for all churches, and even a prayer for our church. And I suggest to you that his prayer for the church, should become a model for the prayer of the church.  We might better learn to pray by studying Paul’s prayer, so that we might pray more effectively.  Jesus said, “MY HOUSE SHALL BE CALLED A HOUSE OF PRAYER.”

The scriptures make much of prayer.  Jesus made much of prayer. The One who would seem to need to pray the least, prayed the most.  Jesus spent an entire night in prayer on a lonely mountain top many times. His last night before HIs crucifixion He spent praying for the disciples in the Upper Room, and then praying in the Garden of Gethsemane with the disciples before He was arrested.  And you will remember that Jesus implored the disciples to pray with Him, to keep watch for just an hour, and yet they fell asleep.

Isn’t it amazing that Jesus desired His disciples to pray with Him?  At this point they weren’t exactly spiritual giants. And yet Jesus wanted them to pray.  But Jesus wanted them to pray not only for Him, but also for their own sake.  Notice He said to them in Matt. 26:41 "Keep watching and praying that you may not enter into temptation; the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.” I can assure you that a life that is prayerful, is a holy life. A prayerful life is one in which temptation rarely overtakes you.  A prayerful life produces a life that is focused on the Lord.  A prayerful life produces a victorious life.

In scripture we are encouraged to pray for the church, for one another, and for ourselves.  In Ephesians Paul indicates that prayer is an essential weapon of the church. After listing the spiritual armor needed for spiritual warfare, he says in Eph. 6:18-20, “With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints,  and [pray] on my behalf, that utterance may be given to me in the opening of my mouth, to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains; that in [proclaiming] it I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.”  Prayer is direct communication with God.  And we are to pray at all times, for all the saints, that is those in the church, and for those who minister to us in preaching the word of God.

There are many such encouragements to pray found in scripture, but another one that I want to mention is found in Philippians 4:6 which we looked at a couple of weeks ago:  “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God, And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus..” Over my lifetime I have probably quoted this verse literally thousands of times in prayer to God.  A great strategy of prayer is to speak back the promises of scripture to God.

Philippians 4:6 has a lot of important points that can be made concerning prayer and the peace of God which is given in response to our prayer.   But what I would like to draw your attention to is two components of prayer which are laid out in that verse.  And the two components of prayer Paul gives there are supplication, which also can be translated as petition, and thanksgiving. 

Now I point that out because that is the same method that Paul employs here in his prayer for the church.  He begins his prayer with thanksgiving, praising God for certain things that are true concerning the Colossians.  Then he moves on to petitions on behalf of the Colossian church, and then he sums it all up with another burst of thanksgiving at the end of his prayer.

Notice first of all that Paul mentions that he prays always for the church at Colassae. Vs 3 “We give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you,”  Perseverance is essential to effective prayer.  In the verse from Ephesians 6 that I read  a moment ago the apostle exhorts us that “With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit.”  I think how we pray is secondary to how often we pray.  The frequency of prayer is important.  Persevering in prayer is important.  Staying in an attitude of prayer.  Prayer should be strategic.  Daniel prayed three times a day, everyday.  And look at the life he lived and how God blessed him, even to the point of this political exile being made an advisor to kings. 

Jesus taught a parable in Luke 18:1 which He said was  “to show that at all times they ought to pray and not to lose heart.”  In that parable He equated prayer with a woman who came constantly before the king, so that he was afraid that she would wear him out if he did not grant her request. And in 1Thess. 5:17 we are told to “pray without ceasing.” So, it’s important that we pray frequently, always, which Paul says he does for the church.

Secondly, notice that Paul begins with thanksgiving to God for the faith that was found among the Colossian church.  Vs4 “since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and the love which you have for all the saints;”  Thanksgiving, as I pointed out earlier, is an important ingredient of our prayers.  Paul told Timothy in 1Tim. 2:1-2 “First of all, then, I urge that entreaties [and] prayers, petitions [and] thanksgivings, be made on behalf of all men, for kings and all who are in authority, so that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity.”

But notice Paul gives thanks to God for their faith.  Faith is an individual decision.  But it is also a gift from God.  Ephesians 2:8 says, “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, [it is] the gift of God.”  So we pray that God would grant to a person the gift of faith.  That their eyes might be opened so that they will believe the truth.  I think salvation can be correlated to giving sight to a blind person.  God has to open a person’s heart to believe in order for them to receive Christ by faith.  And so faith is something we can thank God for, in the case of the church, but it’s also something we should ask God for, because the scriptures say that the just shall live by faith. 

Notice also that faith is not simply believing in the existence of God, nor even believing in the existence of Jesus.  But it is faith in the work of Christ.  Paul says he is “praying always for you,

since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and the love which you have for all the saints;

because of the hope laid up for you in heaven, of which you previously heard in the word of truth, the gospel.”  Paul says their faith came as the result of hearing the word of truth, the gospel.  

He says in Rom 10:17 “So faith [comes] from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.”  The word of Christ is the truth of the gospel.  And the truth of the gospel is that God sent His Son Jesus the Messiah to earth to die for our sins.  Recognizing you are a sinner, that you are in need of a Savior, that you are in need of forgiveness, and repenting of your sin, believing that Jesus died in your place to pay the penalty of your sin, and that He rose from the dead and ascended to His Father in heaven- that is the gospel.  Faith in Christ’s gospel is saving faith. The Bible says that even the devils believe in God, but they are not saved.  Saving faith is believing much more than simply that God exists, but believing what God has said.

So Paul is thankful for the gift of their salvation.  Then Paul adds to that thankfulness for the fruit of the gospel as it is being sown throughout the world.  He says at the end of vs 5, “the gospel which has come to you, just as in all the world also it is constantly bearing fruit and increasing, even as it has been doing in you also since the day you heard of it and understood the grace of God in truth.”

Jesus gave a parable about the sower who went out to sow and some seed fell on good ground, some fell on stoney ground, some fell beside the road and so forth. I’m sure you all are familiar with the parable. But the point I want to emphasize is when Jesus explained the parable He made it clear that the seed the sower was spreading was the word of God. And the seed which fell on good soil is the man who hears the word and believes it and who brings forth fruit. 

That’s why Paul continues in his thanksgiving for Epaphras, who had ministered the word to the Colossians and had brought back the good news to Paul of the bearing of fruit that was occurring in the church there. It would seem that Paul had never been to Colossae, but Epaphras was likely the pastor of the church, and his faithfulness to proclaim the word resulted in the fruit that was evident in the lives of the Colossians. We sow the seed which is the word of God, but it is God that gives the increase.

And in vs 8 Paul tells us what  the fruit of the church is,  saying, “and he also informed us of your love in the Spirit.”  In Galatians 5:22 Paul identifies the primary fruit of the Spirit is love. And in 1Cor. 13:13 he says concerning spiritual gifts; “But now faith, hope, love, abide these three; but the greatest of these is love.” It’s interesting to note that in this prayer, Paul is thankful for their faith, in vs 4, their hope in vs 5, and their love in vs 6.  Love is the fruit of their salvation. Love for God and love for one another. Love is not just some sort of sentimental feeling, but speaking the truth in love.  Love is being concerned about another person’s well being.  And the greatest benefit that anyone could receive is to be saved, to be delivered from darkness and transferred to the church of Christ.  Telling someone that they are a sinner, that there is forgiveness by faith in Christ’s gospel, and telling them the truth even if it might hurt your relationship is really acting in love. Love is not concealing the truth because you’re afraid of offending them.  Love is speaking the truth to a lost and dying world.

So Paul begins his prayer for the Colossians with thanksgiving.  Not simply because it is some formula, a way to somehow butter God up with praise so then you can ask Him for what you really want.  But because thankfulness shapes your perspective.  Thanksgiving for what God has done gives us confidence that God cares, and that God can and will help us, because He has so graciously helped us in the past. Thanksgiving releases an intercession which is formed out of blessing and not out of crisis.  I can promise you that there will be times of crisis in your Christian life, but our prayer life should not be predicated on a response to crisis, but out of a response to blessing.  And when we realize our blessings, we should be inspired to offer up even more prayers and petitions to God from whom all blessings come.

“For this reason” then, Paul says in vs 9, he offers up specific petitions on behalf of the Colossians. Because of his thankfulness for God’s blessings of faith, hope and love in the life of the Colossians, he is spurred to ask God to specifically fill them “with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, for all patience and longsuffering with joy.” 

Paul prays specifically, so let’s look specifically at what he is petitioning God for.  First, that God would fill the church with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding. Spiritual understanding is what is called discernment. I believe discernment is a spiritual gift that is far too often undervalued in the church.  Spiritual discernment is the gift to be able to rightly divide the word of truth, to be able to discern false teaching, and determine false spirits. Lord knows there is a great need for that today.  And in Colossae, they also had a need to discern the false teaching that was gaining a foothold in their church doctrine.  I’m not going to go all into it today, but there was some sort of teaching which promised a deeper level of Christianity, which actually wasn’t the true gospel at all.  Some level of teaching which promised a deeper experience which was not based on sound doctrine.

But Paul knows that true knowledge of the will of God comes from wisdom and the discernment which is given by the Holy Spirit, and that does not lead to some “deeper spiritual experience” that the false teachers were teaching, but it results in something very practical (as he says in vs 10) “in a walk worthy of the Lord, being pleasing to Him, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God.”  True knowledge then produces a holy walk.  Christian doctrine is not just head knowledge, but it’s to be applied in day to day life.  It results in a different walk, a different life.

Paul describes this walk as being pleasing to the Lord. If you love the Lord, you will seek to please Him, to serve Him, to be found pleasing to Him. Furthermore, a true walk results in being fruitful in good works.  Ephesians 2:10 says, “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.”  Our walk is to do the works of Christ, to love one another, to serve the kingdom of God by sowing the seed of the gospel. 

And finally this walk of faith involves growing in the knowledge of God. How do we do that?  We study His word.  We come to the true knowledge of God through HIs word. That is the only way we can truly know God is through His word.  His word is the only barometer of truth that we have.  Even if you had an experience in which you believed God directly spoke to you, you would still have to judge the truth of it by God’s word. To do anything less is to leave yourself open to being deceived.  

To know Christ is to love Him. We grow in our love for the Lord through reading His word, by meditating on Him. And as we know more of Him, we love Him more, and if we love Him more, we will keep His commandments, ie, do the things that are pleasing to Him.

Paul continues his prayer, petitioning God that specifically they would be “strengthened with all power, according to His glorious might, for the attaining of all steadfastness and patience.” Notice Paul prays that they would be strengthened by the power of God in order to be steadfast.  What does steadfast mean?  It means faithful, loyal, without wavering.  It carries the idea of standing fast in the storms and trials of life.  

In Ephesians 4:14-15 Paul speaks of steadfastness, saying, “As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming;  but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all [aspects] into Him who is the head, [even] Christ.”  The Colossians were in danger of being tossed about by a new wind of doctrine, and as such were in danger of spiritual shipwreck.  Paul’s prayer was that God would strengthen them so that they would be found to be stedfast, immoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord. (1 Cor. 15:58)

And that they would be strengthened to attain patience. Patience means endurance, perseverance, longsuffering.  Steadfastness and patience are basically synonyms, but with perhaps a different emphasis.  Patience has more a sense of endurance.  James speaks of trials producing endurance.  James 1:2-4 “Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials,  knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance.  And let endurance have [its] perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.”

It’s interesting that Paul links joy with patience as well here in vs 11.  But also notice that though the idea of trials is indicated in his prayer, Paul doesn’t ask God to take them out of the trial, but to give them endurance and steadfastness as they go through the trial.  Because as James indicates, the trial is God’s means of refining us, of strengthening us, and giving us confidence in God.  So many times our prayers in crisis mode is “Lord deliver me.  Get me out of this!” But Paul prays “Lord, be with them as they go through trials, and give them steadfastness and endurance so that they come out of it perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.”

Finally, Paul concludes His prayer for the church with a final round of thanksgiving.  Vs 12, “joyously giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in Light.”  I believe that Paul here is giving thanks for the suffering that they were called to endure.  The inheritance that God qualified them to share in is not just the glory of heaven, but the sufferings on earth.  This is the biggest challenge yet to our prayer life.  To joyously give thanks to God for our sufferings. 

But I would remind you of the attitude of Peter and John who when they were arrested and scourged and thrown in prison, went away rejoicing that they had been counted worthy to suffer for the Lord’s sake.  Why would you have that perspective?  

Well, the answer may be found in Romans 8:16-18 “The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God,  and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with [Him] so that we may also be glorified with [Him.]  For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us.”

We can rejoice because we have been counted worthy to share in the sufferings of Christ. Even our trials can be the source of blessing.  And as Paul makes it clear in Romans, if we suffer with Him here, we shall be glorified with Him there.  And the glory that we shall enjoy there, cannot be compared to the suffering that we share in here.  2 Cor. 4:17-18 says “For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison,  while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.”

The key to enduring with patience the trials that are set before us is to pray at all times, pray without ceasing, giving thanks in all things with all prayer and supplication.  Phl 4:6-7  “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”  Let us pray like our lives depended upon it. For it most certainly does.

 

The secret of contentment; Phil. 4: 10-13

Last week I shared with you a message about overcoming anxiety and depression.  And in so doing I also ended up sharing with you some of my personal testimony.  I did so, not to try to elicit some sort of sympathy, but because I felt that having gone through these things, it qualified me to be able to speak to you not just from a theoretical point of view, or even a theological point of view, but from the voice of personal experience.

As it turns out, I guess God wasn’t finished teaching me.  On Monday, following my message on Sunday, I ended up having a heart attack and spent the next couple of days or so in the hospital. But I am happy to say that God did give me a peace that passed all understanding as I went through that ordeal. 

As we discovered last week, the opposite of anxiety and depression is peace.  And in Philippians 4 we find that the God of peace offers us the peace of God, which passes all understanding, to those who have learned to put their trust in God, in spite of whatever circumstances they may find themselves. 

So today is really just a continuation of that message.  But what we are going to look at in more detail  today is how the peace of God is achieved on a practical level.  And Paul tells us here that the peace that God provides is called contentment. 

Now, contentment is almost a foreign idea in American society today.  We are programmed from birth to be anything but content.  In fact, in our culture we tend to look down on people who are content as non achievers, as being practically delinquent.  We are expected to be ambitious, to be climbers, to be striving to get ahead.  That is the American way.

I can remember a couple of job interviews I went to back in my younger days, when I was working in the luxury hotel field.  And during a typical interview with the VP of a hotel chain, invariably they would ask the question;  “Where do you see yourself in the next five years?”  And you were expected to give them some sort of answer that showed that you were ambitious, that you had aspirations of climbing to the top.  I found out the hard way that they used that mentality to offer you a carrot on stick to get you to work 6 days a week, 80 hours a week for terrible pay, in the hope that if you did a good job you would get a promotion and start your climb through the corporate ranks.

But this is the American way.  Being discontent has become a way of life. Our materialistic culture basically is trying to keep us dissatisfied, so they can sell us a new product.  We haven’t managed to even learn how to use our iphones yet and they are already trying to sell you on a better one.  And unfortunately, we buy into it.  We have created an environment in which we live our lives in expectation of a better tomorrow.  We buy and borrow and live today in expectation that we will be able to pay for it tomorrow.  Because we are told we really need it today, and so we borrow to buy it, financing our discontent on the promise of a better tomorrow.  We are bred in discontent, so we scuttle our marriage and leave our wives or our husbands in search of a better mate.  We sacrifice homes and families to fulfill our unfulfilled desires that are set aflame by what Hollywood and crass commercialism tells us is necessary for happiness and fulfillment. 

Our parents somehow made do with a tiny ranch houses with 3 shoebox bedrooms and one bathroom and yet raised four kids.  They got by with just one car and just one job.  Dad worked 5 days a week, Monday through Friday, 9 to 5, and had time on weekends to take us fishing or camping or something.  Mom stayed home and took care of the kids and found time to actually keep her own house and cook 99% of the meals from scratch.  We had one phone that was attached to the wall.  We had one black and white tv with only 3 channels.  And yet in spite of such deprivation, life wasn’t all that bad. 

Today, Dad and Mom both work full time jobs because they are convinced they need two incomes.  So they need to hire a maid to come in and clean the house.  They need child care for the kids and put them in every after school program that they can find because they need to work late.  To compensate for all of them going helter skelter in every direction they need to buy a cell phone for everyone in the family.  They need 3 cars, all of them less than 5 years old.  They need to live in a 4 bedroom, 3 bath house with a two car garage, yet they only have 2 kids.  Family dinner is a thing of the past, now it’s in the fridge or on the stove when you get in. They have four tvs and 100 channels and nothing good is on.  Everyone needs their own computer.  And yet in spite of meeting all these needs, they are still dissatisfied.  The divorce rate is higher than 50%.  Drunkenness and drug addiction among our children is rampant, and as a society we are like a runaway train that is careening off the tracks.

It’s no wonder depression and anxiety are at epidemic proportions.  It’s no wonder that anti depressant anxiety medication is the most commonly prescribed medicine in this country.  It’s no wonder the divorce rate is going through the roof.  And as Christians  we are not immune to this, ladies and gentlemen.  Because we have bought in to the message of the world, which is no less than the message of the devil. Ephesians 2:1 describes this world force that works to bring discontentment.  “And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.”  

This phrase the “course of the world” that Paul speaks of is the way of the world, being controlled by  thoughts and pursuits designed by the devil to rush men headlong after fleshly gratification which can never satisfy, like a raging river that courses along sweeping everything in it’s path towards destruction.   And as Christians we are not impervious to this current.  It is the nature of this world.  It’s end is destruction, it results in unfullfillment.  There is no real satisfaction that can be found in either our circumstances or in our acquisitions or our indulgences.  It is a rat race, a course designed by the prince of the power of the air, who is Satan, catching us up in a headlong rush to futility and ultimately destruction.

Now that is the course of this world.  It promises happiness but brings distress, dissatisfaction, despair and depression.  But the Bible says the way of godliness brings the peace of God which is contentment. 1Timothy 6:6 says, “But godliness actually is a means of great gain when accompanied by contentment.” 

So Paul gives us in this closing passage of this letter the secret to contentment.  Contentment is something that eludes the world because we are told the wrong way to achieve it.  We are told that it is through acquisition of the latest thing, through acquiring something new, to making it to the next rung on the ladder. But Paul tells us the secret to contentment is counterintuitive to human wisdom but is something that is learned from godly wisdom.  Contentment is learned behavior.

Look at verse 11; Paul has just commended the church at Philippi for sending him a gift, probably a monetary gift and he thanks them, but then he adds, “Not that I speak from want, for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am.”  Contentment, Paul is saying, can’t be acquired at the mall, it can’t be ordered from Amazon, it can’t be bought. Contentment is learned. 

The course of this world teaches us that contentment is earned by acquiring - through addition.  But godliness teaches us that contentment is learned through subtraction.  Giving rather than getting. Godliness teaches us that it is better to give than to receive.  The world tells us that we somehow have to live life more fully, to go for it all, to grab everything we want.  Godliness tells us that for me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. Phil 3:8 tells us that godliness considers “all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ.” 

Learning contentment then requires that I retrain my thinking from conformity with the world view to conforming to godliness.  As it says in Romans 12:2 to be transformed by the renewing of my mind, and when I have retrained my mind according to godliness, and no longer trying to  conform to the standards of this world, then comes about the offering I give to God, the sacrifice of my body to be used for His glory and not mine.  This is a radical, life changing departure from the worldly view of life.  But this is the secret of contentment. 

Unfortunately, some modern day Christians don’t get this.  They want to have their cake and eat it too.  They want the guarantee of heaven, but they also want the pleasures and treasures that this world offers and they want a God that is little more than a genie who is going to help them get all that they wish for.  That isn’t true Christianity. That is little more than idol worship, and you are the idol and God is serving you.  This is the kind of man talked about in 1Tim. 6:5,  “men of depraved mind and deprived of the truth, who suppose that godliness is a means of gain.”  In other words, these depraved men who are still looking at their lives from a world’s point of view, who think that godliness is a means of gain.  God is just some genie who guarantees our financial  and material success.  But the next verse says, no, but godliness is of great gain when combined with contentment. “For we have brought nothing into the world, so we cannot take anything out of it either. If we have food and covering, with these we shall be content.  But those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a snare and many foolish and harmful desires which plunge men into ruin and destruction.”

Listen, sanctification is one of those Bible words that are tossed around in church and nobody seems to know what they mean.  But I’ll tell you simply what sanctification means.  It means growing up, maturing.  Salvation is the new birth.  But once you are born into the family of God, the idea isn’t to stay an infant, but to become sanctified, to grow into maturity.  And sometimes that can be painful.  One thing for sure, is it is a process.  It’s a process of learning.  Learning to trust in God, learning not to trust in your own understanding of how you think things should be, and learning to accept and embrace the way God wants you to be.

Psalm 131:2 illustrates this idea of maturity.  It says, “Surely I have composed and quieted my soul; Like a weaned child rests against his mother, My soul is like a weaned child within me.” The illustration is that of a child who has matured to the point where he no longer needs milk and is able to rest upon his mother without needing milk anymore.  Now there is nothing sweeter than a baby who suckles his mother’s breast for milk.  But there comes a time when it is time for the baby to grow up and mature, and milk isn’t going to be enough for him anymore.  The baby doesn’t understand this.  He cries and cries and throws a tantrum wanting more milk, and yet the mother knows what is best for him.  If he was able to get what he wanted, his growth would be stunted.  He would never attain the usefulness of an adult.  So his mother weans him off the milk.  It is a painful time for the baby, but it is necessary if he is to grow and mature.  And how necessary is it for us, that when God brings about changes in our lives, many times by taking away something that will keep us from growing and maturing, we cry and cry, thinking we know best.  But God knows best.

I can tell you from my own experience, that my meltdown and descent into depression and anxiety 30 years ago coincided with a process of God taking away things I depended upon.  I don’t know if it always has to be that way, but I’ve found that it often is the way God brings about maturity in a believer.   God takes away  our crutches, things that we lean on, that we have counted on to define ourselves, to measure ourselves by.  God takes them away, one by one, until we learn to lean totally on Jesus Christ. 

Before I went through the meltdown phase of my depression, I was at the top of the antiques profession.  I had a good career, I made a comfortable income, I had built a beautiful house on a large tract of land, and had furnished it with all sorts of nice things, I sent my kids to  private schools, and we drove new cars.  But when my health reached the point where I couldn’t work anymore I began to see my bills snowball.  Debts that I had thought were manageable, I couldn’t handle anymore. So I began to have serious financial problems on top of all my health problems.  And during those years I can assure you that the first 20 times or so I read through most of the Bible, I was looking for promises from God that He was going to restore my fortunes.   Godliness, I believed should have brought about financial gain, not loss.  And I couldn’t understand why God would allow me to lose all that I had worked so hard for.

In my case, it took a few years, but eventually I lost my house, I lost my career.  I had a lot of very specialized knowledge that wasn’t able to do me any good anymore.   Eventually practically all my material possessions were gone.  In a few years I went from an upper middle class income to living below the poverty level. 

But  let me tell you what I gained through that loss.  I gained contentment.  I gained the peace of God that passes all comprehension.  I lost a career but I gained a ministry.  I lost my house but I gained a home in heaven.  I lost my valuable antiques but I gained treasure in heaven.  I learned contentment from what I lost, what I went through, which taught me that I could trust God in all my circumstances.  That when I reached the end of my extremity, God was sufficient for my needs.

Paul said in vs. 11, that I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am.  Whatever circumstances I find myself in, God is faithful.  God is my resource.  I have learned I can trust in His providence, and learned not to trust in my resources. 

Listen, I don’t think my situation is all that unique.  One way or another, God’s purpose in saving us all is to conform us to the image of Christ.  And that means that if it pleased God to crush His own Son according to Isaiah 53,  so that He might learn obedience from the things He suffered, as it says in Hebrews 5:8, then because a servant is not greater than his master, according to John 13:16 then He will use the same suffering to conform us to Christ’s image.

Look at Paul’s words in the next verse of our text, Phil. 4:12;  this is the curriculum that we need to learn; “I know how to get along with humble means, and I also know how to live in prosperity; in any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need.”  Paul can say I know contentment because he had come to know Christ. 

We looked at what Paul had to say about knowing Christ earlier in our study of  Phil. 3:10.  Paul said, “that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death.”  Knowing Christ means knowing the power of his resurrection;  knowing that He lives so that we might have life in His name.  But it is predicated on knowing the fellowship of his suffering, being conformed to his death. 

And for Paul, knowing the fellowship of his suffering meant that he learned how to get along with humble means, how to live in poverty, how to be hungry, how to rejoice while suffering need.  We don’t have to learn how to get along in prosperity so much, do we?  We don’t have to learn how to deal with abundance so much do we?  But having had those things, we do have to learn how to deal with not having them.  And I can tell you that it is painful.  We cry why Lord?  Why not?  Why can’t I have this thing?  I liked it so much.  I want it so much.  What’s wrong with it?  And maybe the answer is that there isn’t anything wrong with it. The scripture says all things are possible for me, but not all things are profitable.  Maybe it was good for a while, but now it is time to move on.  To grow.  To mature.  To get on with the business that we have been called by God to do.  And that is where being conformed to his death comes in.  We have to die to our desires, and learn to accept His will for our lives. His plan, his purposes. 

So what’s the secret to contentedness?  It’s found in Phil. 4:13.  But only after we have come to know Phil. 3:10. Because I know Him, I can do all things through Him. “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”  That is the secret to being hungry, to suffering need, to living in poverty, to being humbled, I can deal with any circumstances I may encounter because I know Him, I have learned to suffer with Him, and I know that when I don’t have any resources I can trust Him to provide for my needs according to his plan for my life. 

And suffering teaches me the difference between my needs and my wants. 1Tim. 6:8 “If we have food and covering, with these we shall be content.”  Because Phil. 4:19 promises that “my God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.”  Therefore, I suffer the loss of all the extra stuff gladly, and consider it but rubbish for the surpassing value of knowing Jesus Christ. 

In 2Cor. 12:9 Paul said he was given a thorn in the flesh, to keep from exalting himself.  And through the suffering of this thorn in the flesh Paul finds the secret of contentment.  God said to Paul, "My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness. Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ's sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong.”

But I haven’t learned contentment, until I have reached the end of my resources, the end of my strength, and found that his supply is sufficient for all my needs.  That I can do all things, I can endure all things, through Him who strengthens me.  He supplies just what I need when I rest in dependence solely upon Him.  When I learn that I can trust him no matter what the circumstances, then I have contentment.  That’s the secret to contentment.  Knowing that my efficiency is not dependent on my proficiency, but on His sufficiency.

I leave you this morning with the words of Jesus in John 14:27 "Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful.”  But let us compose and quiet our soul, like a weaned child on it’s mother’s breast, knowing that God knows best.