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Grace, mercy and peace be to you …
Last weekend while I was doing some fall chores outside the house … I heard a strange noise. You hear all kinds noises from cars and loud motorcycles going up and down Shelbyville road where I live, but this sound was different. It was closer. And it was unique.
Well the sound was coming from the corner of Nottingham Parkway and Lyndon lane … and as I looked I could see that it was coming from an all-white Lamborghini sports car ... growling around the turn, going into the Hurstbourne Country Club. Well, suddenly the driver almost killed the engine … but then I heard the car speed off down the tree-lined entry road to the club with a howling roar.
I figured out what must have happened. Lamborghini’s have about a two-inch ground clearance … and the driveway to the Hurstbourne Country club is not ramped like the entrances we have to our church and school … the club’s driveway still has much of the curb left in place like most of the city’s residences.
It must have been a pretty good jolt in that car hitting that curb straight on; something that most of us probably wouldn’t have even noticed in our own cars. But this car costs well into six figures … and yet, you run the risk of damaging it just driving into your country club.
Well, that by way of introduction, leads us into what God through St. Paul is talking to us about this morning about Living “All for Jesus”.
Let us quote just one verse from our Epistle Reading where St. Paul describes his living “All for Jesus.” I’m reading from the New International Version. Chapter 4, verse 12: where he says:
“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.”
Now… our human nature hears those words and comes to the conclusion that St. Paul has figured out the secret to being just as content when he’s hungry, as when he’s is well fed. To be just as content when he’s in want, as He is when He’s in plenty.
But that’s not really what he’s saying. He’s saying he’s learned to be content … whether he’s in want … or in plenty … whether he’s hungry or well-fed. Which means … contrary to our human logic, that there is discontentment in this world associated with having plenty and even being well-fed.
Or… to go back to what we were talking about earlier … there is even discontentment in owning an expensive car like a Lamborghini.
What’s the secret St. Paul has learned? He’s learned that having plenty, even having the necessities of life, is not the secret to true contentment in this world.
Having plenty is not the secret to contentment?? Let’s flesh that out a bit.
We know that to be in want, and even more so, in dire need, is an obvious source of discontentment in our world,
And that applies not only to the lack of material things, including food, clothing and shelter … but also to non-material things as well … like having a purpose … and feeling loved and wanted and appreciated.
And that’s easy to understand. We’re talking about valid physical and spiritual hungers. And we can easily see why lack of them would lead to discontentment.
But the other side the coin, discontentment with plenty, is a bit harder to understand. In our society, the American dream, the pursuit of happiness and contentment, is often seen as being directly related to financial well-being. But is that true? Does having plenty get rid of all your problems?
We might argue that having “plenty” comes with its own whole slew of problems. In fact, one of the biggest is that “plenty” has this awful tendency to try to slip through our fingers. One problem is you have to worry about people outright trying to steal it … But there are other ways that we can lose it was well….
First off, the more “plenty” you make, the larger the percentage of it that is due back to the government in the form of taxes. So that leaves you a choice, you can either dutifully pay up to half what you make back to the government … OR you can invest some of that plenty in something that allows you a tax break and perhaps a return on your investment.
But, if you go that route, you just landed a second job … the first job makes the “plenty” and the second one tries to preserve as much of it for you as possible.
Without getting into all the details, let’s just say, that that second job can lead to a lot of discontentment and frustration, with loss of sleep and much anxiety. … because, among other things, that can be your “plenty” disappearing every time the stock market takes a hit.
So, that’s the first issue, trying to just keep your “plenty.” The second is related to it. Often we turn our “plenty” into our house, our car, our camper, our you-name-it… things generally that moth and rust depreciate in value over the years … and unfortunately are also susceptible to flood, fire and tornadoes.
These things we own can be here today and gone tomorrow. In actuality, disasters don’t happen that often … but the fact that they CAN, often causes us loss of sleep and much anxiety.
Now… we’ll walk out on a limb a little bit. There’s another problem with having plenty … we get bored with it. We get bored with our car … so we have to get a newer one, a jazzier one… or just something different. We get bored with our house … so maybe it’s time to move up or downsize.
Perhaps one of the worst examples of this boredom with plenty was King David. He had moved in to a beautiful, personally-designed palace… God had given him several beautiful wives … but then he saw Bathsheba.
Reminds us of a lyric from the old ballad by the Eagles, made famous by Linda Ronstadt and others called, “Desperado” which talks about this problem… saying: “seems like some fine things have been laid upon your table, but you only want the things that you can’t get.”
Well, Bathsheba was something that David should not have gotten, and his life was never the same thereafter. Boredom with your “plenty” can lead to problems that cause loss of sleep and much anxiety.
Enough? Well, here’s just one more. You can get owned by your possessions. The “plenty” itself sitting in an investment instrument, the “plenty” we turned into a home, a second home, a boat, an RV, you name … has put a leash on us.
We are no longer free. The use and maintenance of our “plenty” demands all or much of our free time and a lot of whatever “plenty” we might yet have left over. And worse, often whatever is, we see as helping define who we are. We need it … but then … it owns us.
Now. Those are some of the down sides to having Plenty. Shall we talk about the down-side of being well-fed? For all the food ads out there on TV, there are at least as many for all the ways you can try to beat the consequences for being too well fed. Enough said??
So… Point made, we believe … you can be VERY discontent in this world having plenty and even being well fed. And so … discontentment in life can come from not just being in want or need.
This morning … St. Paul is pointing us in the direction of true contentment in this world … whether in plenty… or in need. Contentment is in living “All for Jesus.” As he says: “I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances.”
When you disconnect your contentment from having the things of this world, lots of contentment can happen….. When your relationship with God in Jesus Christ is the thing that defines you … not your plenty… and not your need … then we can say, as St. Paul says: “I can do all things through Him that gives me strength.”
“My contentment comes from knowing that I’m at peace with God and knowing that He is providing for all my needs … I see Him providing my daily bread … as a blessing from Him.
“And I can see that He, not my plenty, is my true source of defining who I am. That any abundance I may have is a blessing to be used to His glory … not to become an idol that enslaves me.”
And now… here’s the good part.
We probably know a lot of folks who are losing sleep at night and having a lot of anxiety … Why? Because of their “plenty.” Wouldn’t they love to be content? Wouldn’t it be good if we could tell them how?
To do so, first though, we have to take stock of our own attitudes toward what the Lord has blessed us with … our own “plenty.”
Are we sweating out how much of it is slipping through our fingers? Are we overly concerned about losing what is ours? Are we bored with what we have? Have our material goods become an idol that rules our lives?
If “yes” is our answer to any of those questions … God invites us to confess it, and turn that concern over to Him. Let Him, by His Spirit, get our priorities in line with what St. Paul is talking to us about today. God intends that our contentment in life would be found in HIM, the GIVER … not in His gifts.
Once our relationship to the Giver is like St. Paul’s … then the gifts He has given us become a point of contact with people who have been similarly gifted. Many of whom, Christian or not, have been caught up in the world’s thirst for more and more “plenty,” causing them loss of sleep and much anxiety.
If your life is indeed a life of contentment in knowing Christ Jesus, that in itself is a priceless gift that you can give to someone caught up in the world’s priorities. You may have been blessed as they have been blessed … but your not worrying about it … and not being owned by it … shows.
Chances are your opener will come when something occurs that this other person perceives is a threat or real loss to their “plenty.” And as they confess their anxiety, hopelessness or frustration … you have the opportunity to talk to them about where true contentment is found:
Not in the stuff itself … but in the One who is giver of the stuff. The One who is giver of life in Jesus Christ. The One who really matters.
The one who calls all people to the wedding banquet. The One who empowers us to live our lives “All for Jesus” … even and especially when we live with plenty …
In Him. Amen.
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