TOPIC:“A Discontentment that is Spiritual”
TEXT:Philippians 3:10; 4:11
“That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the
fellowship of his suffering, being conformable unto his death” (3:10)
“For I have learned, in whatever state I am, in this to be content” (4:11)
According to Webster's Collegiate Dictionary the word “discontent” means "dissatisfied," "displeased," or as I would like to put it, a longing for something different than the present situation. The Word of God teaches that there is a discontentment which is PROHIBITED because it is SINFUL, but there is also a discontentment which is PERMITTED because it is SACRED. One is harmful but the other is healthy. One is bad the other is good. One is lousy the other is lofty. Blessed is the Christian who can distinguish between the two.
The word “content” is used fifteen times in the Bible while the word “discontented” appears only once in I Samuel 22:2. Let us now look at a man who had a divine discontentment working within his soul.
Consider, first of all, a discontentment that is DESTRUCTIVE. Think again of Paul's words in verse 11 of chapter 4: “For I have learned, in whatever state I am, in this to be content.” Now I want you to try to grasp what Paul is really saying here. Paul was in a Roman prison, but it didn't matter to him. He learned the secret through the power of Christ to be content in any situation. And that's what this message is all about.
We live in a day when some people are always complaining or coveting what another person has and they want it. They never seem to be satisfied. They are always grumbling that they don't have enough and are always demanding more of what they don't have. Think of some of the areas . . .