Examine yourself - Contentment 007

Examine yourself - Contentment 007

For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
(2 Corinthians 12:10 ESV)

LEARNED

Paul did not learn contentment from just the scriptures or the Holy Spirit.  He learned contentment in the crucible of life.  (NOTE: People experience – endure hardships yet not learn contentment –- would you say it was the combination of experiences, scriptures and the Holy Spirit?)

Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea;
on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers; in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure.
And, apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches.  (2 Corinthians 11:24-28 ESV)

So, any questions?

We do not learn contentment from being in a situation that breeds contentment.  The contentment Paul learned was a contentment in adversity - in life threatening circumstances, in knowing that the above difficulties (what an understatement) would probably continue to present themselves.

Paul accepted Christ's teaching that in this world we would have tribulation and be hated.  He accepted persecution and other dangers.

There are two aspects to the crucible in which he learned contentment.  The first was the crucible of persecution and the second was the crucible of life.  Life here is full of uncertainty and danger.  Life here, as a follower of Christ, is full of certain danger.  Paul accepted that - it is what it is.

He didn't try to control of conquer his circumstances.  He didn't try to manipulate or manage the conditions or people he lived among.  It is what it is.
He accepted that.

But he accepted that within a specific context.  That context was the sovereignty and faithfulness of God in Christ.  Paul did not WANT to be beaten or stoned or naked or hungry.  He did not seek these things in some warped quest for higher spirituality.  They were simply what they were.

But Paul also accepted that his sovereign and faithful God was in total control and that anything that happened was in God's control and for God's glory.

There's an old chorus I remember singing:
In my life Lord be glorified, be glorified.
In my life Lord, be glorified today.

I'm a lot more tremulous when I sing that today.  When I used to sing it, my mind was seeing success and influence and prosperity and health.  That's what I thought was glorifying to God and it can be - but not in every life.

I made this statement at a Bible study last night.  "The love of God is meaningless without the wrath of God."

We are all too willing to accept nice things as God's will but not so nice or un-nice things?  We always ascribe them to Satan or men.  But God is sovereign - right?  See Job the first two chapters.

Contentment for Paul was defined by his heart, not his circumstances:

But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, 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, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith--   (Philippians 3:7-9 ESV)

The "whatever" in verse 7 certainly refers to the accomplishments Paul lists before it but it is not limited to it.  He says, "For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish."

"Count" = in the above passage carries more than a simple "consideration."  There is an element of command in this counting.  Paul pronounced all these things rubbish.  It was a pronouncement of commitment.  He decided that in his life everything was rubbish in comparison to the grace of God in Christ.

When he says he did this for, Christ's "sake," he is saying that because of Christ he does so.  It also carried the idea that Paul does this "through" Christ.

Paul determined that apart from Christ there was no contentment and that in Christ there was no reason for discontent.

Ahh - here's the rub!  Do we really say with Paul, "I no longer live!"

Think on the following:

I have been crucified with Christ. (Not "in" but "with")

 It is no longer I who live, (Not "me")

but Christ who lives in me. (Just Him)

And the life I now live in the flesh  (Here and now - hated and persecuted, hungry and naked, beaten and stoned etc...)

 I live by faith (This is a biggie!!  Faith = trust, submission, surrender, dependence, etc.......)

in the Son of God,
who loved me and
gave himself for me.
(Galatians 2:20 ESV)


Think about that - more later --

This is not some legalistic imposition I'm striving for here - I am trying to help us see that contentment is utterly redefined in Christ.  Simply put, we must be content with our redemption and not seek it anywhere else - because, if we are indeed "in Him," it can't be found anywhere else.  ms

Us in Him - starts 9/9/12

Sunday, Sept. 9th we start the Us in Him Bible study.
We will start meeting at Caribou Coffee at Friendly Center in Greensboro.
6:00p.m.
We'll be going through the Gospel of Mark.
This is a study for anyone.  The wondrous, the wondering, the wandering and the wounded.

Contact:  ms@tc2v1.com

Michael @ 336-549-2081

Gloria @ 336-430-6743

If you would like to follow along with us via the web - just sent me an email.  If my Luddite mind can figure it our I'll be posting the notes on the tc2v1 website - or I can email them to you.

Walk with P and me 11

Walk with P & me  11

It’s Saturday and we’re at the Bou.  My “Mary” and “Martha” (Patti and Gloria) and I were going over the Us in Him plans and just encouraging one another.

What’s is interesting is though we all know the task is daunting, when we’re together and trusting Him, is seems less daunting.  There was a serious joyfulness as we discussed the “stuff” we needed to and the personal sharing that flowed through the conversation was a real blessing.

We realized that when we were focused on Him and honoring Him and serving Him a great deal of the tension and anxiety about our circumstances seemed to melt away.  Some might call it simply a distraction but in my experience distractions are not so, well, comforting.

I realized how blessed I am to have brothers and sisters who are supportive and willing to express their views honestly and lovingly.  Patti, Glo, Sinclair, Jim and Bruce are just a few of those He has brought alongside to help craft the work He has for us to do.  Many others, in various ways, also provide griss for the mill even though I don’t think they are aware of it.  It is a real blessing and comfort to not be alone or even “in charge” of this.

One of the things that came to mind from our talk was that we need to leave time and space for God to work among us.  Sure, you need order and some kind of form but sometimes that can hinder or inhibit attention to Him.  I don’t want there to be a need for Him to “intrude” if you will – rather I want there to be ample opportunity for Him to do whatever He wants to do.

I am learning my limits and interestingly enough I am learning that although I am capable and skilled in doing this or that – He has this or that for others to do – not me.  Even when it comes to the “vision” for the group I am learning to shut up and listen and wait.  That used to frustrate me because I was the “man with the plan.”  Now, I am just “a man in the plan” and it is nothing short of wonderful.

I got some good feedback from one of the “come alongside to help” people that made me aware of being too definitive and too narrow about some things.  Not doctrinal essentials but other peripheral stuff.  Re-reading what I sent him to review I saw his point.  It wasn’t that what I had written was not right – rather it was not written well.  It built a fence that didn’t need to be there.

I am drawn to think about what the Lord said:

Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light."   (Mat 11:29-30)

There is a certain legalism that can creep into any work – even for Him.  It’s that hellish demand that one get everything right, that one be successful.  It’s that carnal legalism that imposes the criteria of the culture upon the work of the Kingdom.  That’s the ungainly and oppressing “burden” that keeps wantng to climb on your back. 

Just before verse 29 in Matt. 11 the Lord says:

All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.   (Mat 11:27)

What I have to keep in mind is that when the Lord says, “all things,” He means all things.  Not just cosmic things, not just theological things, not just high and lofty things – but “all things” like Us in Him – and every detail in and of it.

I don’t have a sense of “letting let go,” which is nice.  I do have a sense of, “let someone else.”  I wonder if in this type of effort what we come to see as “my problem,” isn’t simply that we are doing what He has prepared someone else to do.  It’s only a problem because we’re trying to do it and keeping His guy or gal from their work.

That moves my mind to Paul’s teaching:

All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he wills. For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body--Jews or Greeks, slaves or free--and all were made to drink of one Spirit. For the body does not consist of one member but of many. If the foot should say, "Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body," that would not make it any less a part of the body. And if the ear should say, "Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body," that would not make it any less a part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell? But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. If all were a single member, where would the body be?   (1Co 12:11-19)

Pray that this lesson will not be lost on any of us.  Pray that we will celebrate, be grateful for and make use of all the body parts He provides.  Pray especially that we each remember and comfort each other with, “If all were a single member, where would the body be?”

Patti and Michael Sanders

ms@tc2v1.com

pattiami@gmail.com