Jeremiah Burroughs’ Rare Jewel, Part 1

We’re looking tonight at the book The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment, and it’s really kind of an exciting thing to see the way that these Puritan books that we’re studying kind of dovetail and build on one another. We started with John Owen’s book, On the Mortification of Sin in Believers, which laid before us the picture of the Christian life as warfare, warfare against sin. That we are called as Christians to put sin to death. It’s a constant battle, and we should not be shocked or surprised about this battle. It would be utterly bizarre for a soldier in the middle of a battlefield to get shot at and say, Hey, what’d you mean by that? What’d you do that for? We’re in the middle of a battle, spiritual battle. And so, the struggle we have is internal. It’s a battle with sin, and we must put sin to death. And Mortification by John Owen that his basic premise is that the health and vitality and enjoyment and fruitfulness of the Christian life depends very much on the mortification of the deeds of the flesh.

In other words, those things that I just listed, health and vitality and enjoyment and fruitfulness and joy, those things are not available for you if you will not put sin to death. Alright? And he gets that out of Romans 8:13. It says, “If you by the Spirit put to death the misdeeds of the body, you’ll live.” So that’s the first book. So just laid before us, the need to be battling sin by the power of the Spirit. We talked about that. The second book that we looked at was called what, Heaven on Earth. And what’s it about? Assurance of salvation. We talked about how assurance is in some ways a separate but related thing to our justification by faith in Christ. That you can be justified and yet not have assurance at a given moment or given time in your Christian life. We found that justification by faith alone, apart from works, is a solid and biblical doctrine, that your justification is in no way connected to your performance.

Isn’t that wonderful? It doesn’t rise or fall, it doesn’t wax or wane, it just is or isn’t. You either are or you are not justified by faith. And if you are justified by faith, you have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. And you can’t have a possible better state with God than that. There’s no improvement possible. Isn’t that wonderful? Alright, so justification is completely apart from works. It’s by simple faith in Christ. Matter of fact, your works would be a great insult to the grace of God. They’re not welcome at all. But assurance of salvation is very much tied to your works and your performance, very much tied to how you do, it does wax and wane. It does get stronger and weaker. We do have a sense of a greater affection and love and good warmth in our relationship with God when we’re obeying him, and doing well, and taking steps of faith, and growing in our Christian life.

Conversely, when we are in sin, and violating our conscience, and not putting sin to death, Romans 8, as Owen talked about, and we’re just struggling in many ways, our assurance goes down. And if we continue to harden our hearts and not repent like we should and get even more entrenched, our assurance might go to zero. And basically, Brooks is teaching us that the two are connected but somewhat separate. And so, he gave us a good sense of what assurance was. Along with that came a sense of what it really means to be born again, a kind of list of tests that you could put yourself through. And I gave you a yellow sheet and if any of you would like some of that, I still have them. These are marks of regeneration, and they’re available here. Roger, why… if you didn’t get one of these last time and you’d like one, raise your hand.

The basic foundational idea there is that we should test ourselves to be sure that we’re in Christ. Test yourselves to be sure that you’re in the faith, it says in 2 Corinthians 13. Now this kind of reflective life, looking inward, trying to be sure that we’re born again, this is not the kind that many evangelical churches espouse. They’re going to say once saved, always saved. They’re going to say that if you walk the aisle and prayed the prayer, you should never, must never question your salvation. That would be an insult to God. And along with that, if you are in any way doubtful about your salvation, you’re not a Christian. And you need to pray the prayer again, you need to walk the aisle again. Do whatever it is you did but do it real this time. Well, that’s no real biblical assurance at all. Instead, what we need to do is sense what the Bible teaches about what God does in you when you’re saved, what kind of works does he do in somebody.

And when you start to know and recognize those true marks of regeneration, then you have grounds for a good assurance. When you see those things happening in yourself, then you can comfort yourself. So, this is all Heaven on Earth that we talked about last time by way of review.

Any questions about that? Because we’re somewhat pressed for time. It’s ludicrous, absolutely ridiculous to go through these books in two weeks. It’s just horrendous. And I feel it more than any of you, as I try to get the outlines ready and all that. And there’s just not enough time. These are deep and rich books. My purpose is not to give you a thorough going through with these books, but to whet your appetite, give you the kernel of it, the main idea. And say, go read it yourself. Okay? But any questions about Heaven on Earth, assurance, or mortification before you go to the next book? Don’t be bashful. Anything on your mind? Suppose you fail one of those tests, suppose you read through the list, and you don’t see these things happening inside, then what?

I think you should repent and believe in Christ. I think you should enter the kingdom of heaven. I actually had discussions about the, I’ve had them many times. I look at this list and I don’t see these things happening in me. What then? Let’s take it seriously. Take it seriously. Any questions about this at all? Alright, well let’s go on into The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment. And like I said, these kind of build on themselves, don’t they? They really do. They’re related. You can’t have assurance of salvation if you’re living in sin. So, mortification is kind of the ground of assurance, right? Well, it’s very hard, I think to be content in the Christian life if you don’t have assurance. So, they just kind of build on themselves. And so, we’re looking now at this issue of Christian contentment. Turn, if you will, in your Bibles to Psalm 3 or Psalm 3.

I’d like to share with you something that I wrote about in Beacon article this morning, and it’s just on my heart and a great encouragement to me. Psalm 3, good place to begin on tonight’s topic. Could somebody read Psalm 3 for me? Its really pretty brief. (audience) Yeah, that’s right. What’s the context of this psalm? What’s the context? How do you know the context? Its right under the title. When David fled from his son Absalom. Would you read verse 5 again, Chris? I didn’t hear what you said. Verse 5, 3-5, okay, I thought you said wept. I thought, I don’t know, we may have a translation problem. No, I lay down and slept. It’s really important that when you build a strong case that the Hebrew supports it.

Anyway. Yeah, “I lay down and sleep. I lay down and sleep because the Lord sustains me.” That’s what it says. “I wake again because the Lord sustains me” (Psalm 3:5). David was running for his life. Do you understand that he was fleeing for his life and why? Because his wayward son, the talented, the winsome, the handsome, attractive Absalom was trying to steal his throne and kill him. Now, how’d you like to have a son like that? And it’d been a tough relationship with Absalom, hadn’t it? I mean, it’d been a real struggle, and you can read all about it in 2 Samuel 15-18, those chapters. But he’s running for his life. There’s no question about it. Absalom wants to kill him. There can’t be two kings. And so, if Absalom’s proclaimed king in Hebron what that means is David can’t be king in Jerusalem. And if he’s got strength enough to pull this off then David needs to flee for his life, and he does.

He runs out of Jerusalem. And he escapes and, in the flight, and at some point, he has leisure to write Psalm 3. And what are the circumstances within Psalm 3? Well, in verse 5 it says, “I lie down and sleep. I awaken again because the Lord sustains me.” And then in verse 6 he says, “I will not fear the tens of thousands drawn up against me on every side.” Isn’t that incredible? Was this a real threat? Were there tens of thousands drawn up against him on every side? It was not metaphorical; it was literal. There were armies that were pursuing him. And he’d been through this before, as you know with King Saul. So, he knew what was going on here, and yet at some point he lies down and sleeps like a baby. How is it possible? Have you ever suffered from insomnia? You lay down and your mind is churning and working, and you’re anxious, and you just can’t get to sleep.

How can there be contentment? How can there be peace in the midst of this kind of circumstance? David, what is your secret? And what’s amazing is the more you study the context and what’s going on, the more amazing it gets. Because Absalom was really a direct fulfillment of a warning that Nathan had given him that God would judge him for him, David, God would judge David for the sin with Bathsheba, “The sword will never depart your house” (2 Samuel 12:10). There’s going to be trouble coming, and Absalom is the fulfillment of that. So, David is fleeing under the direct chastisement and judgment of God for his own sin, for his own wickedness. And yet somehow, he can lie down and sleep. He can find contentment in the middle of that. Does he know? Does he think that this is a chastisement from God? Absolutely he does. At one point, as he and his entourage are fleeing, there’s this Benjamite named Shimei who comes along the side of the road and starts cursing him and pelting him with dirt and rocks and insulting him. “Finally, you’re out of here, you man of blood” (2 Samuel 16:7), he says. He’s just pelting him, and Joab says, Joab ever the man with the sword said, “Let me go over and cut off his head. Why should he insult the Lord’s anointed?” (2 Samuel 16:9). And David says, the Lord told him to curse, so don’t cut off his head because I deserve this. So, he’s very well aware that this is a chastisement from God. He’s well aware. Now take a minute and look with me at 2 Samuel 15:24-26. Actually, I’m going to start at verse 23. 2 Samuel 15:23, “The whole countryside wept aloud as all the people passed by. The king also crossed the Kidron Valley, and all the people moved on toward the desert. Zadok, the priest was there too, and all the Levites who were with him, they were carrying the ark of the covenant of God.”

So, think of the scene. Now they know what’s going on. David’s fleeing for his life. There’s an entourage going out and the Zadok, the loyal priest, comes and brings the ark of the covenant to flee with David. And look what happens. It’s very interesting. It says they set down the ark of God, and Abiathar offered sacrifice until all the people have finished leaving the city. Verse 25, “Then the king said to Zadok, take the ark of God back into the city. If I find favor in the Lord’s eyes, he will bring me back and let me see it and his dwelling place again. But if he says, ‘I am not pleased with you,’ then I am ready. Let him do to me whatever seems good to him,” I’ll stop there. That right there is the secret of Christian contentment. I am ready. Let him do to me whatever seems good to him.

And if you can take in David’s attitude, you’ll be able to sleep even though tens of thousands are drawn up against you on every side. Because you might not survive the evening. There may be a battle that night and you may be killed in your sleep. David doesn’t care. He’s ready, and it’s not a suicidal thing. He knows fully, he just has totally put his life, his whole situation in the hands of God. And he’s done it even in the midst of his own sin and his own discipline from God. He’s confessed his sin, he’s repented. He has received the forgiveness and the mercy of God, the assurance of God’s prophet, Nathan, “You will not die. God has taken away your sin.” He’s at peace with God. He’s assured of his salvation. He’s fine. And God says “on earth anything goes,” whatever he chooses is fine with me. If I get my kingdom back, fine. If I die tonight, fine, I’m ready.

“Whatever God says.” Are you there in your Christian life? Are you able to sleep in the midst of this kind of affliction? Well, I think Jeremiah Burrows in his book, The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment says, it is possible for you. It is possible for you to learn how to be that content. Now he didn’t this whole 2 Samuel thing, that’s me, that’s not Jeremiah Burrows. But if he were here, he’d say that’s a good example. It’s a good example. I think it is. I am ready. Let him do to me whatever seems good to him. That is wonderful, and that’s the desire I have for each one of you- that you would know what Burroughs calls, what the apostle Paul calls the secret of contentment. Look at the verses on the top of the sheet that I gave you there.

Philippians 4:12-13. The apostle Paul said, “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. I can do everything through him who gives me strength.” That’s his foundational verse. Burrows chooses this one when he talks about the rare jewel of Christian contentment. He said, I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, living in plenty or in want. This is a powerful thing, Christian contentment, powerful. It is disconnected in many ways from surrounding circumstances. It really is in no way related to surrounding circumstances. This is a secret of internal feasting on God despite whatever it is you’re going through, and it’s very powerful.

[Christian contentment]… is disconnected in many ways from surrounding circumstances. …This is a secret of internal feasting on God despite whatever it is you’re going through, and it’s very powerful.

There’s a strong witness element to it. There’s a story that’s told about the Moravians and their peace in the midst of a raging storm in the Atlantic when John Wesley, a missionary to the colony of Georgia, had no peace in his soul. And was actually certain that if he died that night he would go to hell. But Wesley saw these Moravian missionaries singing, praising God, enjoying themselves in the midst of a storm in the middle of the Atlantic, and he said, they have something I don’t have. He had no assurance and therefore he had no contentment. They however, had this rare jewel of Christian contentment so that the storm didn’t bother them at all.

I’m reminded of the great teacher from Dallas Theological Seminary. Howard Hendricks is talking about seeing a student and he said, how are you doing? Well, I’m doing fine under the circumstances. Under the circumstances? What are you doing under there? Christian doesn’t belong under the circumstances. That’s a good word for us, isn’t it? What are you doing under the circumstances? There are always going to be circumstances. This is not a perfect world. God has not ordained perfection for you in this world, and if you can’t find a way to be content and happy until this or that or the other is dealt with in your life, you won’t be content or happy ever. Because there’s always going to be more things coming, more things coming. If you’re not content right now with whatever’s going on in your life, who knows you’ll ever be content the rest of your life except as the pagans are when things are good. You see what I’m saying? We should be different. We should not be under the circumstances, and that’s what Burroughs is getting at.

And Paul says there’s a secret to it. You have to learn it. It doesn’t come with the initial package. When you first come to Christ it’s there in germ form and seed form. It’s there, but it’s not part of spiritual immaturity actually. It’s part of maturity. It takes a while. You have to learn it. And there’s a secret to it, and that’s what Burroughs is going to try to unfold for us. This secret of Christian contentment. Paul also wrote about it in 1 Timothy 6:6. He says, “but godliness with contentment is great gain.” You could say to yourself, if I could just have two things in the world, it would be these godliness and contentment. I would like those. That’s a good choice, isn’t it? To be like Christ in my character, to carry myself the way Jesus would in any and every situation and to be genuinely content. No matter what God gives me in this world, those two will carry you an awfully long way in the Christian life, won’t they?

Godliness with contentment, he says is great gain, directly contrasted to the issue of those that desire to be rich, those that are pursuing material wealth. And they do so I think because they think that happiness will come with it. If I could have that thing out there that’s not presently in my collection, if I could have that, then I would be happy. Aren’t there non-Christians around us thinking that way all the time? And its an illusion it never really comes. They get that thing, and they’re onto the next one. Christians shouldn’t behave this way. So, he says, godliness with contentment is great gain. This is what you should set your heart on. And then Hebrews 13:5, it says, “Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, ‘Never will I leave you. Never will I forsake you.'”

 So initial comment that Burroughs makes, “Christian contentment is not a natural state, but a mystery whose secrets must be learned.” It shouldn’t be a great discouragement to you if you have never really learned the secret yet. It should be a challenge to you. It should be a motivator. You should say, okay, I haven’t learned the secret yet of being content in any and every situation as proven by my behavior over the last month. There have been many circumstances in which I have been discontent and murmured and complained and chaffed under what God was doing. And so, I haven’t learned that secret yet, but I want to know it. I want to learn it. I want to be like Paul and Silas singing in the middle of the Philippian jail. I want to do that. I really do. I want to learn that secret. And so, he says, Christian contentment’s not a natural state, but a mystery whose secrets must be learned.

 The whole book breaks into a fourfold outline. We’re going to look more or less at the first two points tonight. The first is the nature of Christian contentment. What it is, what is Christian contentment? Secondly, the art and mystery of Christian contentment. Thirdly, what lessons must be learned to achieve Christian contentment, or else how does Christ teach it? How does he teach us contentment? And then fourth, the glories and excellencies of Christian contentment. What makes this such a glorious and excellent state of the soul? That’s the fourfold outline of the entire book. The doctrine he gives us at the start here is to be well-skilled in the mystery of Christian contentment is the duty, glory and excellence of a Christian. In other words, this is a skill worth having, isn’t it? Don’t you enjoy being around content people? Isn’t a delight and a pleasure to be around people who’ve learned this secret? Who are not subject to circumstances, who are just pleasant and trusting in God no matter what happens?

 There are people like that. It’s not a mystery, or it is a mystery I guess that he’s saying. But it’s not an impossible thing like perfection, which we would say you can’t find anywhere. There’s nobody who’s sinless, perfect. But this you can find there are some mature and godly people that have found this secret and have learned how to do it. And I think what Paul says before is what Burroughs sits before us is that this is something that you should want. You should be well-skilled in this. You should learn how to do it. It is your duty. It’s also your glory and your excellence. It’s laying ahead of you. Then he gives us this definition that he’s going to be unpacking in this whole first section. Christian contentment described. This is very typical Puritan writing. They give a very dense packed definition, and then they unfold it for you in point after point, subpoint after subpoint. This is what they do.

How does he define Christian contentment? This is what he says. “Christian contentment is that sweet, inward, quiet, gracious frame of spirit which freely submits to and delights in God’s wise and fatherly disposal in every condition.” I’ll read it again. The definition of Christian contentment is that Christian contentment is that sweet, inward, quiet, gracious frame of spirit which freely submits to and delights in God’s wise and fatherly disposal in every condition. Alright, well let’s look at each part of this as Burroughs breaks it apart for us. First, he says that contentment is inward. It’s inward. It’s not an outward show. It’s not about that at all. It’s something that’s happening inside you. He says this, it’s a very interesting thing. If the attainment of true contentment were as easy as keeping quiet outwardly, it would not need much learning because then you would be an actor.

If the attainment of true contentment were as easy as keeping quiet outwardly, it would not need much learning because then you would be an actor.

You would be an actress, right? Acting happy. That’s not what we’re getting at. We’re talking about a true inward state of the soul. And furthermore, if the circumstances keep getting tougher, eventually your acting will crumble, won’t it? It’s really pretty tough to keep it up if things get harder and harder. So, it’s not acting. It’s an inward thing. He used an illustration of a shoe. There’s a lot of people whose shoes look good on the outside, but inwardly they’re causing intense pain and agony, rubbing and blisters and all that. But boy, they look good on the outside. And I like that analogy. That’s the way it is with some people. They look happy or content on the outside, but they really constantly churning on the inside. It’s an inward thing first and foremost, that’s what he gives us.

Second of all, it is a quietness. It’s quiet. It talks in 1 Peter 3 about a godly woman and gives this quality, but I think it’s true of men as well, a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight. There’s a quietness. The word there I think is hasia and I think it has to do with a quietness under God’s authority, a quiet settledness under your king. That’s what it is. There’s a quietness to it. And Burroughs, as he’s writing this chapter, kind of sometimes goes back and forth between the word quietness and contentment. They’re kind of almost interchangeable for him. Quietness. Alright, what is this quietness not opposed to? In other words, these following things can actually be part of it. It is not opposed to a due sense of affliction. In other words, you can have a sense that I’m going through a trial right now and it’s hard.

It’s difficult. It is a hard thing. It’s not opposed to that, and there’s all kinds of biblical examples. Paul the apostle frequently talks about his afflictions and his difficulties. He’s not shy about telling the churches what he was going through and the troubles that he had. And so also the psalms are filled with just clear and frank statements of the afflictions. David in Psalm 3 talks about how many are my foes, how many rise up against me? He’s aware of what faces him. He knows that tens of thousands are drawn up against him on every side. So, this Christian quietness or contentment is not opposed to a due sense of the affliction. I’ve just been diagnosed with leukemia, let’s say, or my child is facing this or that, or we have this financial news. You look at these things, and it’s not biblical contentment to say, oh, we’re pretending it’s not there. No, not at all. So, “a due sense of the affliction, an orderly and respectful complaint to God in prayer,” it’s not opposed to that either, the key being orderly and respectful. Do we see that in psalms? Do they pour out their complaint before God? They do. David does, and as a matter of fact, at the end of Psalm 3, he says, “Break the teeth of the wicked, God” (Psalm 3:5, paraphrase). A right upper cut, boom, take him on God. I mean he not.

And that’s the third one here, “Lawfully seeking help or deliverance from the affliction.” I’d kind of like to win. I wouldn’t mind my throne back. So, it’s not opposed to asking God for help to asking him for deliverance from the affliction. There’s nothing wrong with seeking to be done with the affliction. Paul did seek three times to have the thorn in the flesh removed. There’s nothing wrong with that. So, you can have Christian quietness and contentment while having a due sense of the affliction you’re facing. And in an orderly and respectful manner, making your request to God, pouring out your complaint to him and even being emotional about it. That’s fine. And lawfully seeking help or deliverance in your affliction. But it is opposed to the following things on page two. It’s opposed to murmuring and repining at the hand of God. What does that mean? Murmuring? Well, it’s complaining, frankly. You know what murmuring is? I think it’s one of those onomatopoeia words that “murmur-murmuring.” I’m just not happy with what’s happening here. It’s an ongoing grumbling. How many times did the Israelites grumble against God in the desert? That is not Christian contentment. That’s exactly I think the opposite state. It’s not murmuring and repining at the hand of God.

 It’s not vexing and fretting, which is more the same, only more intense or a tumultuous of spirit, which is even worse. Or an unsettled or unstable spirit which distracts from your spiritual duties. You’re so disturbed by your affliction that you stop praying, and stop reading the Bible, and stop going to church, and stop doing these things because you’re under some kind of affliction. No, it’s not that. And it’s not a sense of heart consuming care. The key concept here is that this thing has taken over your heart. It’s consumed you, and all you can think about is your affliction. That’s not it, not at all. Or of sinking discouragements. Depression getting you down. That’s not part of Christian contentment. These are all enemies of Christian contentment. Or sinful, shirkings and shiftings to get relief. Getting out of it, trying to get out of the situation. Finding a way to get out from under the trial that you’re in, or even worse of all, rising up against God in rebellion.

How dare you do this to me, this kind of thing. Well, these are all kind of cut from the same cloth, aren’t they? It’s a matter of kind of degrees, and it gets worse and worse. You begin by murmuring, and then you go on to vexation and tumultuous spirit, or perhaps depression and then ultimately, perhaps to sinful rebellion. It’s not any of those things. Thirdly, it is a frame of spirit, like a frame of mind. Only he calls it a frame of spirit. It’s a disposition, isn’t it? It’s kind of an outlook, a way of looking at things, a frame of spirit, a disposition. Burroughs says contentment is a soul business. It’s a soul business. It’s part of your soul. It’s an inward quiet frame of spirit.

Contentment is a soul business.

Listen to this. I thought this was very, very insightful. Someone is disturbed. Suppose it to be a child or man or woman. If you come and bring some great thing to please them, perhaps it will quiet them and they will be contented. It is the thing you bring that quiets them, not the disposition of their own spirits. Not any good temper in their own hearts, but the external thing that you bring them. But when a Christian is content in the right way, the quiet comes more from the temper and disposition of his own heart than from any external argument or from the possession of anything in the world. Pagans make themselves happy by going shopping. They go buy themselves something, right? They treat themselves; their circumstances are thus improved, and they can kind of lift themselves up out of the doldrums. That’s not the Christian way. We are not needing anything in this world. It’s an internal frame of the spirit that we’re looking for, for true Christian quietness and contentment.

 Also, he says contentment is not merely one act, just a flash in a good mood, “This is one of my better content moments.” That’s not it. That’s not what he’s talking about here. It’s kind of a stable, settled disposition of the soul. “You’ll find many men and women who if they are in a good mood, will be very quiet, but this will not hold. It is not a constant course. It is not the constant tenor of their spirits to be holy and gracious under affliction.” Okay? So, it’s not that. It’s a frame of mind, or a frame of spirit is what he talks about. And he says it’s a gracious frame. Now, what the Puritans mean when they use this word gracious is it comes from God’s grace. And specifically, Puritans tend to mean that it’s contrary to natural self or contrary to what you naturally are.

This is not anything you’re going to find naturally in yourself. Amen. Have you proven that? This doesn’t come from you? What comes from you are murmurings and vexations and tumultuous spirit and all that that comes naturally from you and me. I’m not separating us. We’re all the same. That’s what we naturally do under affliction. This is a gracious frame of spirit. It comes from the gracious hand of God. It’s a work of God’s grace. It’s a work of God’s grace. Philippians 4:12-13, “I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, living in plenty or in want.” What’s the next verse? “I can do everything or all things through him who gives me strength,” through Christ. Paul says, I’ve learned a secret. I do it through Christ. I can’t do it on my own.

 This is a gracious frame of spirit. This is not natural to us, so we must have Christ’s help to do it right? That’s what it is. So, it’s a gracious frame. It’s not the natural quietness of certain personalities. It’s not the sturdy resolution of the will. I will be happy; I will be content. It’s not possible. Be with John Wesley in the midst of that Atlantic storm, “I’ll not fear.” You can’t do that. It’s beyond the will. The will can only take you so far, and this is beyond the grasp of the natural will. This is a gracious disposition, gracious. And it’s not from the strength of natural reasoning thinking it through if you could just get a different perspective on your problems, it’s not that at all. This comes from grace from God. It freely submits to God’s disposal. Now we start to get at how it happens. There’s a freedom to the submission here. You’re not reluctant, you’re not under constraint. You gladly go like a sheep followed, following. God leads you to contentment, and you’re glad to be there. And the key is submission. So, you’re gladly submitting here. You’re not reluctant, you’re not under compulsion or under constraints. You’re not forced to be content.

And I like this one, “Not by stupidity or ignorance of the afflictions.” There are some people who just don’t know what kind of danger they’re in. I mean they just don’t know. Like Jonah asleep in the hold below. He didn’t realize how dire it was. That’s not Christian contentment. Jonah asleep. That’s not Christian contentment. Jesus asleep. Now that’s Christian contentment. Oh, that’s a perfect example of Christian contentment. He knew very well that God had not sent him into the world to die in a boating accident, and so he could sleep. There’s no way in the world that his Father was going to let him drown that night. It wasn’t written. It’s impossible. And so, he could sleep. Perfect example of Christian contentment. But Jonah was ignorant, you see, of what was going on. And so, it’s not a matter of stupidity.

This is very much like faith. Abraham’s faith in Romans 4, which faced the fact that his body was as good as dead since he was about a hundred years old. And that his wife, Sarah’s womb was dead since she was barren. He faced it, and “Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God” (Romans 4:20). So, we face the things. It’s not stupidity or ignorance, or the head in the sand, not at all. It freely submits, knowing what you’re doing. You’re not under any obligation, you’re not under compulsion, you’re not under restraint. You freely and gladly go where you want to go, which is submission to God. And it submits to God’s disposal. The key here is, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I’ll give you rest. Take my yoke upon you” (Matthew 11:28-29). When you submit your neck to Jesus as your king, then all you have to do is just do what he tells you to do. The rest is up to him. It’s up to him. He’s the king. He disposes.

He’s the one who chooses. He’s the one that makes decisions. And David was content with what God had decided to do even if it meant death for him. He was content no matter what. He trusted in God completely. Whether he got his throne back or not, he was content, and that’s the whole thing. It’s a matter of glad submission to a king that you trust. Glad submission to your king. Burroughs puts it this way. “What,” it says, “Will you be above God?” This is him speaking to his own soul: “Is this not God’s hand? And must your will be regarded more than God’s? O under, under get you under, O soul. Keep under, keep low, keep under God’s feet. You are under God’s feet and keep under his feet. Keep under the authority of God, the majesty of God, the sovereignty of God.” The power that God has over you to keep under is to submit.

So, it’s a glad keeping under. We’re under God, and we’re not murmuring. Next, he says it takes pleasure in God’s disposal. Okay, there’s a glad submission here. To me, I think that’s what I think of when I think of the kingdom of heaven. Kingdom of heaven is where Christ is gladly submitted to. That’s what I think of. Glad is the key because the demons are subject to Christ, aren’t they? But not gladly. And so, the kingdom isn’t there except in power to judge. But to me the kingdom has come, or I’ve come into the kingdom when I’m under glad submission to Christ. And so, there’s a gladness. It takes pleasure in God’s disposal, not just I see the justice in what God is doing. It’s just. I think that’s important actually to see the justice. And we’re going to talk more about that later to labor, to have a sense of your own sinfulness so that you don’t complain.

But it’s more than that. Not just I see the justice, but I see the goodness of what God is doing. God isn’t just in this matter, just, he is good and the things he does are good. He wants to bring forth good for his children. And I’m one of his children, so this must be one of the good things he’s bringing about. There’s a way of thinking here. Note Paul’s example in Philippians 4:18. He says, “But I have all and I abound.” I’m full. And Burroughs is amazed by this:

A last poor man. What did Paul have that could make him say he had all? Where was there ever a man more afflicted than Paul was? Many times he had not tatters to hang about his body to cover his nakedness. He had no bread to eat. He was often in nakedness and put in the stocks and whipped and cruelly used. Yet I have all says Paul, for all of that.

Isn’t that remarkable? I would love to have that kind of spirit. Here’s a guy writing from prison in Philippians, and all he can talk about is joy. Joy, joy, rejoice. Some have said that Philippians is a letter of joy. It’s everywhere. “Rejoice in the Lord always; I’ll say it again, rejoice” (Philippians 4:4). He says, I rejoice that this happened or I’m rejoicing that Epaphroditus is back or that Timothy can go. He’s just joyful about everything, and yet he’s in prison. It’s a remarkable thing. He takes pleasure in God’s disposal. Paul and Silas were delighted in what God had chosen. And they were trusting in him and waiting to see what God would do. And what would God do? How about an earthquake, the chains fall off, and the Philippian jailer gets saved and his whole family. Is that good enough?

 That’s not bad. Let’s just wait and see what God does. And so, he’s delighted in what God has brought him to. It takes pleasure in God’s disposal. 2 Corinthians 6:10, “Sorrowful yet always rejoicing, poor, yet making many rich, having nothing and yet possessing everything.” Isn’t that wonderful? Having nothing and yet possessing everything. That’s kind of the kernel of what he’s getting at here, having nothing yet possessing everything. Next, he says it submits and takes pleasure in God’s disposal. He’s working over this definition carefully. A contented heart looks to God’s disposal and submits to God’s disposal. That is, he sees the wisdom of God and everything. In his submission he sees God’s sovereignty. But what makes him take pleasure is God’s wisdom. The Lord knows how to order things better than I. The Lord sees further than I do. Isn’t it true that one of the great thieves of contentment is you just don’t trust God in how he’s running your life, and you think you could do better?

Isn’t it true that one of the great thieves of contentment is you just don’t trust God in how he’s running your life, and you think you could do better?

I think as I look at inside myself, I think no, I would’ve chosen these things, and you didn’t choose any of them. God, I don’t get it. This is what I wanted, but it wasn’t what God wanted. And so, when my contentment is drained, it means I’m not trusting him. I don’t trust him to be my king. I want to trust in God’s disposal, and I want to submit to that. And then finally, it does this in every condition, whatever the kind of affliction, whatever the time and duration of the affliction, whatever the varieties of our condition. It’s happy all the time, content all the time in what God has chosen. So, let’s look at the definition again. Christian contentment is that sweet, inward, quiet, gracious frame of spirit which freely submits to and delights in God’s wise and fatherly disposal in every condition. Now if that’s what it is, do you have it?

Have you learned the secret. Is this you? And if it isn’t, then read on and not my outline. Read the book; my outline is hardly even worth looking at. But read the book. Read the book and learn and even better-read Philippians and say, Lord, teach me what you taught Paul. I’d like to get to the point that Paul was, of knowing that secret of being content in any and every situation. Burroughs is sensing you as the reader at this point saying, sounds good, but I don’t think it’s possible. I really don’t. And that’s again the genius of the Puritans. They’re always anticipating questions you might have. Yeah, go ahead.  (audience) No, I don’t think so. I don’t think there’s a great difference between peace and contentment. I think he’s giving us a more full-flowered definition here. I think that there is a distinction that I’ve noticed in scripture, a kind of a grammatical distinction between peace with God and the peace of God which passes all understanding.

Peace with God is justification. In other words, God is at peace with you through Christ. And that’s stable and static and never changes. Peace with God, relational peace, but the peace of God which passes all understanding in Philippians 4, which guards your heart and your mind in Christ Jesus. Now that kind of comes and goes, and I think that that is the fruit of the Spirit. And as we’re walking in the Spirit, then we do enjoy that. I think they’re really very similar if not the same. Good question. Any others? Any other thoughts? Good. Alright. What Burroughs writes here is about now in chapter two, “The mystery of contentment, but you’ll object, ‘What you speak of is very good, if we could attain to it. That sounds good, if it were possible. But I know I’ve been alive now for 50 years, and I’ve never been content, and therefore it’s not possible.'”

Well, but if it is, is it possible for anyone to attain to this? And this is what he says, “It is possible. If you get skill in the art of it, you may attain to it. And it will prove to be not such a difficult thing either, if you but understand the mystery of it. There is a great mystery and art in what way a Christian comes to contentment.” This is such a powerful thing. I use this way of thinking many times in counseling married couples. Basically, I want to say to each individual, do you need, must you have, your spouse have these problems solved in order for you to be content?

If so, then your own contentment is external to yourself and your relationship with Christ. You’re dependent on that other person getting their act figured out before you can be content. And that’s not going to work, is it? Because frankly, if you are that way, even when they get their act figured out, you’re still going to be discontent because you’ve already sold it away, haven’t you? To external circumstances. Rather you say, Christ is enough and sufficient for me. And I can be content even if he or she doesn’t ever really get their act together. And once you’ve kind of figured that out, guess what? Problems start to decrease. And could it be that they also might start to look inward and say, how’s my relationship with Christ? Is Christ enough for me? Whether they’re going through a hard time or not? That’s the first step I think of resolving some of these things. Independence from one another in terms of Christian contentment to say, Christ is enough for me, and I can be content whatever the circumstance. To me that’s great joy and strength in a marriage.

Now he starts to look at the mystery of contentment, and there’s some really good insights here. First of all, a Christian is content and yet unsatisfied. How is that possible? How could it be that a Christian is content and yet unsatisfied? Well, Paul in Philippians 3 gives us that. He says, I want stop right there. I’ll just write it here. “I want,” that means one could say I lack, right? There’s something that I don’t have and I want to get. Well, what did Paul want in Philippians 3? I want to know Christ, he said. I want more of Christ. And in one sense, therefore he’s not content yet, but yet he is. There’s kind of a mystery here. You see what I’m saying? “For me, it’s better by far to depart and be with Christ.” I would like that. I want it. And so, in one sense, a Christian is content and yet he’s unsatisfied. And look how Burroughs puts it. “A man who has learned the art of contentment is the most contented with any low condition that he has in the world. And yet he cannot be satisfied with the enjoyments of all the world. He is contented if he has but a crust but bread and water. Yet if God should give unto him kingdoms and empires, all the world who rule, he would not be satisfied with that.”

Well, he wants something better. What does a Christian want? Something better than kingdoms and empires. What does a Christian want? He wants Christ. He wants face-to-face fellowship with Christ in heaven. That’s what he wants. Nothing less than that will satisfy me. That’s what he says. Here’s the mystery of it. Though his heart is so enlarged that the enjoyment of all the world and 10,000 worlds cannot satisfy him for his portion. Yet he has a heart quieted under God’s disposal if he gives him but bread and water. He’s not going to be content with anything in the world for his ultimate inheritance. No, not at all. Because this world’s not his home. He’s not looking for anything in this world. This world’s not his home.

He’s moving through it. He’s an alien and a stranger, so he’s passing through it. There’s a sense of passage. You know what I’m talking about. And so, he makes a difference here between a Christian’s passage and their portion. The passage is what you get while you make your way through this sin-cursed world. And you may get some and you may not get some, but it doesn’t matter that much to you. But your portion is what you get eternally. It’s your inheritance. It’s what is your possession ultimately, and that must be Christ. And so, he says, “A soul that is capable of God can be filled with nothing else but God.” Philippians 3:8-9 as we mentioned,

What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, 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 is through faith in Christ, the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith.

He wants to “know Christ and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of sharing in his suffering, becoming like him in his death. And so somehow to attain to the resurrection from the dead,” that’s what Paul wants, what’s on his heart. And then the psalmist in Psalm 73:25, “Whom have I in heaven but you, and earth has nothing I desire besides you.” I’m not going to be satisfied in this world. So, a Christian is content and yet not satisfied. Do you see that? There’s nothing in this world that’s going to finally fill what only face-to-face fellowship with God will fill. You see what I’m saying? And so, we move through the world, longing and yearning and wanting all the time until we’re finally in his presence.

A Christian is content and yet not satisfied. …There’s nothing in this world that’s going to finally fill what only face-to-face fellowship with God will fill.

Secondly, he says that the Christian comes to contentment by subtraction, not addition. It’s interesting, not so much by adding to what he would have or what he has, not by adding more to his condition, but rather by subtracting from his desires so as to make his desires and his circumstances even and equal. Bring your desires down to the level of your circumstances.

Just keep taking away the desires until you desire what you actually have. So, you gain contentment by subtraction, by removing desires. Can you do that? Can you have desires taken away? Well, apparently you can say, Lord, take away my desire for this or my desire for that until I want only what you give me. You see what I’m saying? He comes to contentment by subtraction. Now, a carnal heart knows no way to be contented, but this, I have such and such possessions, and if I had this added to them and the other comfort added that I have not now, then I should be contented. The world is infinitely deceived in thinking that contentment lies in having more than we already have. That’s a great deception, isn’t it? And Madison Avenue, the marketing keeps it going, keeps the fires going. I remember sitting watching a ball game with my brother, very interesting. And a series of commercials came for an automobile, for a real estate company, for jewelry and some other possession. And at the end of it, he just said, “I want.”

He was just being funny, but he was just joking about the fact that commercial after commercial comes and makes you want something. And so, it’s feeding on that infinite deception that Burroughs mentions here that you’ll be content when you get the things that you want. What a Christian says is, I’ll be content when I stop wanting all of these things. Stop wanting them, get rid of the wants and the desires. Stop wanting them. And then contentment comes. The way to be rich then is not by increasing wealth, but by diminishing our desires. Certainly, that man or woman is rich who have their desires satisfied.

Thirdly, contentment comes by adding another burden to yourself. Let’s speak especially to those in affliction. You are under the burden of affliction. Burrough says you want to be content, add another burden. Well, what burden does he have in mind? Well, this way, the world thinks the way to contentment in affliction is to be rid of your burdens, to have the affliction removed. And by the way, again about marketing, do you realize how much engineering goes into automobiles to remove annoyances from you, to take discomfort away from you to make everything perfect for you? Why do they do that? They love you. Is that why, they’re just altruistic? They just want to make your world perfect. Is that why? No, because you love you and you want all the annoyances out of your life. And you’ll pay a lot of money for a car that will pull it off, if you can find a car that would remove every inconvenience. I was sitting in the parking lot this morning waiting for my son. He was buying some things, and I saw something I’d never seen before. A man brought his groceries, and he pushed the button on his minivan. And the back hatch raised up like a big cargo hatch, and he put everything in. And then as he is walking away, kind of without even looking, kind of nonchalantly, I guess it didn’t bring him any joy anymore. The thrill had worn off. But I was amazed. He pushed the button, and the hatch went down. He put the cart away. And the car didn’t put the cart away for him yet. I guess we haven’t designed that yet, but maybe someday a car will actually do your food shopping for you. All annoyances removed, anything difficult in your life taken away. That’s America. And I’ll tell you what, it makes us weak people, doesn’t it? It makes us irritable. It makes us discontent. It makes us lazy to have all the annoyances and difficulties systematically removed from our lives through the industrial revolution, and the ingenuity of engineering so that every annoyance and difficulty can be removed from your life.

That’s not God’s way. Rather, that you would remove from your life desires and add a burden. And what burden does he say you should add? Rather the way to contentment is to add another burden beyond your present difficult circumstances. That is to labor, to load and burden your heart with your own sin. The heavier the burden of your sin is to your heart, the lighter will become your affliction to your heart, and so you’ll be content. Isn’t David a great example of that? David is able to be pelted by Shimei because he feels he deserves it. He really genuinely feels he deserves it. It’s coming from God. It’s not really coming from Shimei. And the beauty of it is when the whole thing’s over, and David is restored to his throne, he doesn’t punish Shimei, he doesn’t put him to death. He’s just free in the matter because it was God that was doing it, and he felt he deserved it.

And worse, he’s just glad to not go to hell. All the more glad to be going to heaven. And so therefore, there’s a delight here that comes in saying, what do I truly deserve? God, what do I truly deserve? And when you meditate on that, and you realize what we truly deserve, there is no earthly circumstance you go through that’s equal to what you truly deserve. None. And if you don’t think so, meditate on a person in hell being offered the opportunity of getting out for a day and going through what you’re going through right now. Would they take it in a heartbeat? They’d get out of there in a heartbeat and come go through whatever you’re going through right now. And you say, well, wait a minute. Do I deserve hell? Yes. That’s why Christ came, that we would not have to suffer condemnation.

And so, anything that we get is less than we deserve. And there’s great contentment in meditating on that. It frees you up from self-pity. It frees you up from that poisonous attitude of saying, why is God doing this to me? David didn’t have that attitude. He laid down and slept like a baby. It’s a delightful attitude that comes from this. Fourth thing he says is by changing the affliction into something else, you make the affliction a positive good rather than negative evil, a kind of a wise stroke from a master craftsman on your soul. Isn’t that really what it is? God is like Michelangelo. And he’s there with the hammer and chisel and he is making something perfect in your life. And no, it isn’t the way you would do it. It’s better than you would do it. It’s much better. You grow the most in affliction.

Isn’t that when all the growing time comes? And aren’t the other times of refreshment just getting you ready for the next afflictions when you can keep growing? I mean, I hate to say it that way, but how much do we grow when everything’s good, and all kinds of stuff’s coming our way? It’s when we’re suffering and struggling and trusting and praying and crying and waiting that we grow. But if we’re only ever that we would be crushed. I mean, we can only handle so much. And God has therefore a rhythm of these afflictions. And so, there’s a master stroke from the craftsman working on you. He knows what he’s doing. He’s touching in just the right way, and it’s measured out every day of affliction. It’s measured out not any more or less than it needs to be. And so, you make the affliction a positive good rather than a negative evil.

Luther put it this way: “A Christian becomes therefore a mighty worker and a wonderful creator to create out of heaviness, joy to create out of terror, comfort, out of sin, righteousness, and out of death life. Two men may have the same affliction to one. It shall be as gall and wormwood, yet it shall be as wine and honey and delightfulness and joy and advantage and riches to the other.” You see, it’s just a way of looking at it. Pure joy. Whenever you face trials of any kind, pure joy, said James, you’re supposed to think of it that way. So, turn it into something. Be creative in the way you think about it.

Fifth, he says, by doing the work of the circumstances, the Christian thinks, well, how shall I come to be satisfied and content? What is the duty of the circumstances that God has put me into? You should labor to bring your heart to quiet and contentment by setting your souls to work in the duties of your present condition. God has done this for a purpose. Ask what duties are required of this condition? How can I make the most of this situation for the glory of God and of his kingdom? How can I do this? What are his duties? What are my responsibilities in this matter? How can I make the most of it? And then by melting your will into God’s will, I love this. “It is not by having his own desires satisfied, but by melting his will and his desires into God’s will. So that in one sense he comes to his desires satisfied, though he does not obtain the thing he desired before, still he comes to be satisfied with this because he makes his will to be at one with God’s will.”

Now I’m thinking here of Psalms 37:4, “Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.” Many a person, many a Christian, has come to that verse with a preset desire, and used the verse to trust God for it so that they could get the thing they desired. I wonder about that. I wonder if that’s what’s going on In Psalm 37:4, I started to kind of morph the verse a little bit today. Try this one. Delight yourself in the Lord and he will assign you the desires of your heart. How about that? He’ll give them to you, not give you the pre-desire you already had. He’ll tell you here, have this desire. Alright, all right. He’ll assign you your desires. Actually, that’s a good thing. I’d like him to assign my desires and get rid of all the nasty ones. I’d like only the ones he wants me to have. That’s great contentment and delight, isn’t it? When God assigns us our desires, or try this one, better: delight yourself in the Lord, and his desires will become your desires. Or best of all, delight yourself in the Lord and he will become your desire.

I mean nothing but him. He becomes your desire. He becomes your desire. Just like Landis is at Hebrews 11:6. We talked about that. What does that verse say? I forget. “Without faith it is impossible to please God. He’s the rewarder of those who diligently seek him.” So, here’s the thing. You’re diligently seeking God, seeking God, seeking God, and then God gives you a reward other than himself. That doesn’t make any sense. He is the reward. He’s what you get after diligently seeking him. There is no higher reward.

(audience) Yes? Yeah. Genesis 15:1, “Do not be afraid, Abraham, I am your shield and your very great reward.” The context of that’s the end of chapter 14 when he fought with all those kings in the valley where Sodom and Gomorrah was. The five kings against the four kings, and Abraham’s little army of 300 plus made the difference and they won. And there’s all this booty and plunder, and he doesn’t want any of it. He touches none of it. He says, I don’t want any of you saying Abraham, you made Abraham rich. And he just said, give it to my men. Let them have their share, but I don’t want any part. And then the very next verse, here’s God saying, do not be afraid. I am your shield. I am your very great reward. Good choice, Abraham. You get me. And that’s a delight. It’s a delightful thing.

 Or then Psalm 47:4. It’s just a wonderful synergy here from 37:4, you go to 47:4. He chooses our inheritance for us. That’s pretty good, isn’t it? It’s like, Lord, you tell me what to want. You choose my inheritance for me. You’ll choose better than me anyway. So, he chooses our inheritance for us, the glory of Jacob whom he loves.

And then finally it comes, contentment comes by purging out what is within. James 4:1, “What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires, that battle within you?” So, he purges out those lusts, those evil desires, and frees you from them so that you may be truly content. Alright, so we got to a good stopping point. Any questions about The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment?

Philippians 4:12-13 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.  I can do everything through him who gives me strength.

1 Timothy 6:6 But godliness with contentment is great gain.

Hebrews 13:5 Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.”

Initial comments:  Christian contentment is not a natural state, but a mystery whose secrets must be learned.

Four-fold Outline:

I.        The Nature of Christian Contentment:  What It Is

II.      The Art and Mystery of Christian Contentment

III.    What Lessons Must Be Learned to Achieve Christian Contentment

IV.   The Glories and Excellence of Christian Contentment

Doctrine:  To be well-skilled in the mystery of Christian contentment is the duty, glory, and excellence of a Christian.

Definition:  Christian contentment is that sweet, inward, quiet, gracious frame of spirit, which freely submits to and delights in God’s wise and fatherly disposal in every condition.

I.  Christian Contentment Described

A.   It is inward

“If the attainment of true contentment were as easy as keeping quiet outwardly, it would not need much learning.”

B.    It is quiet

1.   What this is not opposed to

•       a due sense of affliction

•       orderly and respectful complaints to God in prayer

•       lawfully seeking help or deliverance from an affliction

2.   What it is opposed to

•       murmuring and repining at the hand of God

•       vexing and fretting

•       tumultuousness of  spirit

•       unsettled, unstable spirit which distracts from spiritual duties

•       heart-consuming cares

•       sinking discouragements

•       sinful shirkings and shiftings to get relief

•       rising against God in rebellion

C.    It is a frame of spirit

“Contentment is a soul-business:  an inward, quiet, frame of spirit.”

“Someone is disturbed, suppose it to be a child or man or woman.  If you come and bring some great thing to please them, perhaps it will quiet them and they will be contented.  It is the thing you bring that quiets them, not the disposition of their own spirits, not any good temper in their own hearts, but the external thing you bring them.  But when a Christian is content in the right way, the quiet comes more from the temper and disposition of his own heart than from any external argument or from the possession of anything in the world.”

“Contentment is not merely one act, just a flash in a good mood.  You will find many men and women who, if they are in good mood, will be very quiet.  But this will not hold.  It is not a constant course.  It is not the constant tenor of their spirits to be holy and gracious under affliction.”

D.   It is a gracious frame

•       Not the natural quietness of certain personalities

•       Not a sturdy resolution of the will

•       Not from the strength of natural reasoning

It is a GRACE from GOD!!

E.    It freely submits to God’s disposal

•       No reluctance, no great persuasion needed to submit gladly to God… not grudging

•       Not by constraint… not forced to be content

•       Not by stupidity or ignorance of the afflictions facing them

It is a FREE act by rational people based on spiritual judgment of God

F.    It submits to God’s disposal

“What, it says… will you be above God?  Is this not God’s hand and must your will be regarded more than God’s?  O under, under!  Get you under, O soul!  Keep under!  Keep low!  Keep under God’s feet!  You are under God’s feet, and keep under His feet!  Keep under the authority of God, the majesty of God, the sovereignty of God, the power that God has over you!  To keep under is to submit!”

G.   It takes pleasure in God’s disposal

Not just “I see the justice in what God is doing”

But “I see the goodness in what God is doing, and I am delighted with it!”

Note Paul’s example:  Philippians 4:18  “But I have all, and abound!  I am full!”  “Alas, poor man!  What did Paul have that could make him say he had all?  Where was there ever a man more afflicted than Paul was?  Many times he had not tatters to hang about his body to cover his nakedness.  He had no bread to eat, was often in nakedness, and put in the stocks and whipped and cruelly used.  ‘Yet I have all,’ say Paul, for all of that!”

2 Corinthians 6:10   sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; poor, yet making many rich; having nothing, and yet possessing everything.

H.   It submits and takes pleasure in God’s disposal

“A contented heart looks to God’s disposal, and submits to God’s disposal, that is, he sees the wisdom of God in everything.  In his submission, he sees God’s sovereignty, but what makes him take pleasure is God’s wisdom.  The Lord knows how to order things better than I.  The Lord sees further than I do.”

I.      It does this in every condition

•       Whatever the kind of affliction

•       Whatever the time and duration of the affliction

•       Whatever the varieties of our condition

Definition again:  Christian contentment is that sweet, inward, quiet, gracious frame of spirit, which freely submits to and delights in God’s wise and fatherly disposal in every condition. II.  The Mystery of Contentment

“But you will object:  What you speak of is very good, if we could attain to it; but is it possible for anyone to attain to this?  It is possible if you get skill in the art of it; you may attain to it and it will prove to be not such a difficult thing either, if you but understand the mystery of it…. There is a great mystery and art in what way a Christian comes to contentment.”

A.  A Christian is content, yet unsatisfied

“A man who has learned the art of contentment is the most contented with any low condition that he has in the world, and yet he cannot be satisfied with the enjoyment of all the world. He is contented if he has but a crust, but bread and water… yet if God should give unto him Kingdoms and Empires, all the world to rule… he would not be satisfied with that.”

“Here is the mystery of it:  though he heart is so enlarged that the enjoyment of all the world and ten thousand worlds cannot satisfy him for his portion; yet he has a heart quieted under God’s disposal if he gives him but bread and water.”

Difference between a Christian’s passage and his portion:  “A little in the world will content a Christian for his passage, but all the world, and ten thousand times more will not content a Christian for his portion.”

“A soul that is capable of God can be filled with nothing else but God.”

Philippians 3:8-9  What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, 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 is through faith in Christ– the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith.

Psalm 73:25 Whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you.

B.    He comes to contentment by subtraction

“Not so much by adding to what he would have, or to what he has, not by adding more to his condition; but rather by subtracting from his desires, so as to make his desires and his circumstances even and equal.”

“A carnal heart knows no way to be contented but this:  I have such and such possessions, and if I had this added to them, and the other comfort added that I have not now, then I should be contented…. The world is infinitely deceived in thinking that contentment lies in having more than we already have.”

“The way to be rich is not by increasing wealth, but by diminishing our desires.  Certainly that man or woman is rich, who have their desires satisfied.”

C.    By adding another burden to himself

“The world thinks the way to contentment in affliction is to be rid of your burdens (i.e. to have the affliction removed).  No…the way to contentment is to add another burden (beyond your present difficult circumstances), that is, to labor to load and burden your heart with your sin; the heavier the burden of your sin is to your heart, the lighter will become your affliction to your heart, and so you shall be content.” D.  By changing the affliction into something else

You make the affliction a positive good rather than a negative evil… a wise stroke from a master craftsman on your soul

Luther:  “A Christian becomes a mighty worker and a wonderful creator, to create out of heaviness, joy; out of terror, comfort; out of sin, righteousness; out of death, life.”

“Two men may have the same affliction; to one it shall be as gall and wormwood, yet it shall be wine and honey and delightfulness and joy and advantage and riches to the other.” E.  By doing the work of his circumstances

“A Christian thinks, ‘Well, how shall I come to be satisfied and content?… What is the duty of the circumstances God has put me into?”

“You should labor to bring your heart to quiet and contentment by setting your souls to work in the duties of your present condition.”

God has done this for a purpose… ask “What duties are required of this condition?  How can I make the most of this situation for the glory of God and His Kingdom? F.  By melting his will into God’s will

“It is not by having his own desires satisfied, but by melting his will and desires into God’s will.  So that, in one sense he comes to have his desires satisfied though he does not obtain the thing he desired before; still he comes to be satisfied with this, because he makes his will to be at one with God’s will.”

Psalm 37:4  Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart.

Try:  “Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will assign you the desires of your heart.”

Or better:  “Delight yourself in the Lord, and His desires will become your desires.”

Or even better:  “Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will become your desire.”

Psalm 47:4  He chooses our inheritance for us, The glory of Jacob whom He loves.

G.  By purging out what is within

James 4:1 What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you?

III.  The Mystery of Contentment – continued

H.    He lives on the dew of God’s blessing

“A Christian can get food that the world does not know of; he is fed in a secret way by the dew of the blessing of God.”

I.       He sees God’s love in afflictions

J.      His afflictions are sanctified in Christ

K.    He gets strength from Christ

L.     He makes up his wants in God

M.   He gets contentment for the Covenant

IV.  The Mystery of Contentment – concluded

1.   He supplies wants by what he finds in himself

2.   He gets supply from the Covenant

a.    The Covenant in general

b.   Particular promises in the Covenant

N.   He realizes the things of Heaven

O.   He opens his heart to God

V.  How Christ Teaches Contentment

A.   The lesson of self-denial

B.    The vanity of the creature

C.    To know the one thing needful

D.   To know one’s relation to the world

E.    Wherein the good of the creature is

F.    The knowledge of one’s own heart

VI.  How Christ Teaches Contentment – concluded

G.   The burden of a prosperous condition

H.   The evil of being given up to one’s heart’s desires

I.      The right knowledge of God’s providence

VII.  The Excellence of Contentment

A.   By it we give God his due worship

B.    In it is much exercise of grace

C.    The soul is fitted to receive mercy

D.   It is fitted to do service

E.    It delivers from temptation

F.    It brings abundant comforts

G.   It gets the comfort of things not possessed

H.   It is a great blessing on the soul

I.      A contented man may expect reward

J.     By it the soul come nearest the excellence of God

VII.  The Evils of a Murmuring Spirit

A.    It argues much corruption in the soul

B.     It is the mark of an ungodly man

C.     Murmuring is accounted rebellion

D.    It is contrary to grace, especially in conversation

E.     It is below a Christian

IX.  The Evils of a Murmuring Spirit – concluded

F.     By murmuring we undo our prayers

G.    The evil effects of murmuring

H.    Discontent is a foolish sin

I.       It provokes the wrath of God

J.      The is a curse on it

K.    There is much of the spirit of Satan in it

L.     It brings an absolute necessity of disquiet

M.   God may withdraw his protection

X.  Aggravations of the Sin of Murmuring

A.   The greater the mercies the greater the sin of murmuring

B.    When we murmur for small things

C.    When men of gifts and abilities murmur

D.   The freeness of God’s mercy

E.    When we have the things for the want of which we were discontented

F.    When men are raised from a low position

G.   When men have been great sinners

H.   When men are of little use in the world

I.      When God is about to humble us

J.     When God’s hand is apparent in a an affliction

K.   When God has afflicted us for a long time

XI.  The Excuses of a Discontented Heart

A.    ‘It is a sense of my condition’

B.     ‘I am troubled for my sin’

C.     ‘God withdraws himself from me’

D.    ‘It is men’s bad treatment that troubles me’

E.     ‘I never expected this affliction’

F.     ‘My affliction is so great’

G.    ‘My affliction is greater than others’

H.    ‘If the affliction were any other, I could be content’

I.       ‘My afflictions make me unserviceable to God’

J.      ‘My condition is unsettled’

K.    ‘I have been in a better condition’

L.     ‘I am crossed after taking great pains’

M.   ‘I do not break out in discontent’

XII.  How to Attain Contentment

A.  Considerations to content the hear in any afflicted condition

1.      The greatness of the mercies we have

2.      God is beforehand with us with his mercies

3.      The abundance of mercies God bestows

4.      All creatures are in a vicissitude

5.      The creatures suffer for us

6.      We have but little time in the world

7.      This has been the condition of our betters

8.      We were content with the world with grace, and should now be with grace without the world

9.      We did not give God the glory when we had our desires

10.   The experience of God doing us good in afflictions

XIII.  How to Attain Contentment – concluded

B.    Directions for attaining contentment

1.   There must be grace to make the soul steady

2.   Do not grasp too much of the world

3.   Have a call to every business

4.   Walk by rule

5.   Exercise much faith

6.   Labour to be spiritually-minded

7.   Do not promise yourselves great things

8.   Get hearts mortified to the world

C.    Directions for attaining contentment – continued

9.      Do not pore too much on afflictions

10.   Make a good interpretation of God’s ways to you

11.   Do not regard the fancies of other men

12.   Do not be inordinately taken up with the comforts of the world