On many of our minds this morning is the latest of a string of shootings. The latest happening this past Sunday at the nearby West Freeway Church of Christ here in Fort Worth. Our church has taken a number of steps to ensure your safety and will continue to do so. From a volunteer security team to a police officer’s presence on Sunday along with a police vehicle parked outside. We cannot live in fear because our God is our refuge and our fortress (Psalm 91). But we can be smart and we will be smart. Please do not be offended if one of our volunteers asks to inspect an item such as a backpack. Please be mindful that people wearing long coats maybe asked to reveal what is inside. These efforts are done to ensure your safety. We live in evil times much like the demon-possessed people of Jesus’ day, only now they are armed. So we must think strategically and we must also trust in the Lord, our God.
Will you join me in praying for the families of Tony Wallace and Richard White, the victims of last week’s shooting? Will you join me in praying for Mr. Jack Wilson, the man who successfully defended the lives of so many people? Will you join me in praying for the family of the man who sought to kill others as well – I’m sure they are struggling.
I invite you to join me for a seven-week study starting Wednesday where we investigate the royal family of Israel.
This morning, I want to talk about creating margin in our life. Creating margin so that we have room to breathe and grow. Adding margin in our life to truly connect with the people we care about the most. Adding margin in my finances to enjoy what the Lord has given me. Adding margin will allow you to be generous with those in need. Margin in our life to truly worship the Lord. We have no time to ourselves. If stress were measured like rpms of a car’s dashboard, then we would be running in the red.
If you have a Bible, I invite you to turn to Philippians 4 with me.
Let’s talk about normal people for a moment. Normal people are the people you work with. Normal people are stressed and living beyond their means Normal Americans believe they will always have a car payment & they will always pay rent or a mortgage. The Normal American has no money in the bank for an emergency. And the normal people are up to his/her eyeballs in debt. But God has called His people to be anything but normal. According to the people at CNBC, only 40% of Americans could handle an unexpected $1,000 expense such as an emergency room visit or car repair. One of the major reasons we don’t have margin in our life is because we don’t have contentment in our lives.
Today’s Scripture
“I rejoiced in the Lord greatly that now at length you have revived your concern for me. You were indeed concerned for me, but you had no opportunity. 11 Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. 12 I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. 13 I can do all things through him who strengthens me” (Philippians 4:10-13).
The author of the New Testament book of Philippians is the Apostle Paul and he’s anything but normal. He is in prison when writes this small letter (Philippians 1:14). Here we have Paul in prison when is facing death and he has the audacity to say, “I have found the secret of being content. I have this inner gyroscope. I have this deep calm and equilibrium no matter what the circumstances. I have learned the secret of being content.” Twice in these verses he stated that he had learned contentment. Not only does he say he is happy in verse 10 but Paul says he is greatly happy. He’s really happy because of their concern for him.
The distance between Paul in prison in Rome and the church in Philippi was around 800 miles. A letter from one place to the other would have taken around 40 days to deliver. Paul is really happy they went to all this trouble to show their care for him. A guy named Epaphroditus showed up in Roman prison cell with a care package in hand.
Do you see the word “revived” in verse 10? That word “revived” is a rare word and it pictures your perennial flower budding forth in the spring. When the Philippian church sent this guy all the way to see Paul in prison, Paul bursts forth in joy. The people all the way down on the other end of the cell block would have heard the happiness of Paul. Paul says in effect, “I am content whether you showed concern or not. I’m content.”
If you were to rank your contentment right now on a 1 to 10 scale, where you rate yourself? Hold on to your number if you will. Because to really experience joy in your life (and especially your financial life), you need to experience a profound contentment.
1. The Enemy of Contentment
The American experience is one of the worst places to find contentment. Contentment is so rare in our fifty states because it has so many enemies.
1.1 Coveting
Inside us we experience the effects of the enemy of contentment. What is the enemy of contentment? Coveting - you can also call it, materialism. Materialism is seeing the essence of life to be nothing more than owning stuff. Do you know the tenth commandment of the Ten Commandments? “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor’s” (Exodus 20:17).
To covet is to crave, to yearn for something that belongs to another. It’s not simply wanting something we don’t have; it’s wanting something what someone else has. Materialism fuels your debt crisis. Coveting fuels your being in soul-crushing debt. Nearly everything we hear and see is designed to make us discontent in our society. An over the top lifestyle seems to be around almost every corner.
For golfers, you’ve got to keep with appearances – it’s where you play and “Does my clothes and shoes embarrass me?” Even in the charity world, “Is my name or my company’s name on the list of donors? Does everyone in my college’s alumni world know that I gave? Weather its cycling, running, or the women’s Bible study group – we ask ourselves, “Do I have the right shoes, bike, or a Pottery Barn couch?”
Again, nearly everything we hear and see is designed to make us discontent in our society. Digital marketing experts estimate that you will see between 4,000 and 10,000 advertisements a day. Each of those ads has 2 purposes: 1) you need this and 2) you need it right now. Commercials are time burglars. They drain away a shocking portion of your life — roughly 4 years over the course of a normal American life. The results of our discontentment all around us.
1.2 The Secret
Paul presents for us a beautiful picture of contentment in verses 11 & 12: “Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. 12 I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need” (Philippians 4:11-12).
Circle the word “secret” toward the end of verse 12, will you. This is a really important word. Paul’s using a word that shows this feeling is not something everybody has. It’s something people want to have. The word “secret” means it’s something that is not easy to find. The kind of contentment Paul has is not something that is easy to get your hands on. The truth is, most of us don’t have his level of contentment living in our homes with all the luxurious he couldn’t have imagined. We face a danger that Paul didn’t face to our degree: it’s easy to get into debt in our day.
Your great-grandparents thought debt was a sin. Their children, your grandparents weren’t quite as strict, but they still thought it was really stupid and they only borrowed on a few things. Then in 1950, Frank McNamara changed the whole financial landscape of the country with a little piece of plastic called Diner’s Club. Frank McNamara made deals with several restaurants in New York City, who all agreed to accept this single form of payment across all the different businesses as a “convenience” to the consumers. Right then and there, the credit card was born.
Much of our debt is generated by materialism. Materialism is the siren’s call that says, “This object will make you happy.” So we go into debt to get it.
1.3 Credit Cards
Let’s talk about credit cards for a moment. Now, we’ve all done stupid with money. A little more than forty percent of all households carry some kind of credit card debt. The average amount of credit card debt per each household is a little over $9,000. The average household is DFW is a little more than $6,000 in 2016. The average interest rate on credit cards is just under seventeen percent. So the average person in DFW will pay a little over $1,000 in just credit card interest this year. Americans paid $133 bullion in credit card interest in 2018. That is up nearly fifty percent from just five years ago. Watch this telling part of our behavior: when credit cards were introduced to McDonalds nearly twenty years ago: the average fast food transaction went up twenty percent to thirty percent higher than when you simply pay with cash. Subway reported than their average credit card transaction double their average sale in just three years. The truth is we spend more on our credit card.
Again, the average DFW person will pay over $1,000 in just credit card interest this year That’s approximately one house payment for the average house in DFW according to a recent study. How would you like to go one whole month this year with no house payment? Contentment is the missing ingredient for many of us. Most Americans would rather use a credit card to have something today instead of working an extra job for 2 months to earn the money to buy it later. But you have no margin in your life when you cannot make the minimum payment on your credit card.
1.4 Student Loans
Student loan debt is the highest ever in 2019 and many are predicting this to be the next bubble to pop in our nation’s economy. 45 million borrowers collectively owe more than $1.5 trillion in student loan debt. College costs are rising to heights only Chuck Yaeger used to reach. The cost of a four college has risen sixty-eight percent since 2000. The average student loan debt in the class of 2017 was a little more than $28,000. This is now second only to mortgage debt for most Americans. Not everyone is designed to go to college. Did you know that our nation will experience a shortage of 400,000 welders by 2024? Average pay for a welder is $63,000 before taxes according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Parents, let’s remove the stigma from vocational training for many of this next generation. There’s no way to add margin to your life when your financially upside down getting a degree you don’t want for a job that may not pay.
1.5 Mortgages
Now, nearly all of us need to either go into debt for a house or rent. Owning a home is a smart form of debt if handled wisely. Yet, low mortgage rates have pushed us to the highest mortgage balances in our nation’s history. The average mortgage loan debt in America in 2019 was a little over $200,000. That’s up around $15,000 from just four years ago. Again, mortgage debt isn’t all wrong but certain levels of mortgage debt are. Your mortgage should not be more than twenty-five percent of your take-home pay. If we are going to find contentment then we are going to have to work to pay off our house. You need a plan for having your house paid for.
Announcement: I want all of our church to go through Financial Peace University starting in September of this year. Creating margin in your life begins by fighting materialism. The problem of coveting is both for the rich and the poor. Coveting is the enemy of contentment and it is the fuel of much of your debt. Jesus identifies the problem in all of us: “Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions” (Luke 12:15b).
1. The Enemy of Contentment
2. The Epitome of Contentment
Again, Paul says I found the secret: “In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need” (Philippians 4:12). Our Scripture text is Paul’s “thank you note” sent to the church. A gift was sent to Paul while he was inside the Roman prison from the church in Philippi (Philippians 4:14). This is how they expressed their concern for him in verse 10 by sending him a care package. Paul is saying, “Thank you for sending this to me. You guys are a huge blessing to me. However, I want you to understand — you who are free and well-off —that contentment isn’t about the stuff I own. Instead, contentment is a condition of the heart, and in Christ, all my wants, needs, and desires have already been met.” He says in effect, “Your gift brought me joy but I have a under-the-ground aquifer of joy that isn’t dependent on gifts.”
Knowing Christ allows you to experience freedom. To experience greater margin and experiencing less stress. Debt causes you extra stress in life. To experience margin in your life where life is rushing at such a speed you cannot enjoy the gifts of God. To experience contentment is to not care how much I have whether its hunger or abundance. To experience contentment is to not care how much I have whether it is plenty or need.
2.1 Picture Contentment
Picture contentment for me. What would it feel like to have no car payment? What would it feel like to have no house payment? What would it feel like for you to be free of your student loan payments? What would it feel like to have enough money in the bank to cover your next emergency? What would it feel like to completely debt free? Again, we’ve all done stupid with money. Seventy-six percent of people are living beyond their limits and are just one change away from a financial crisis. Paul specifically mentions being content with no money in his pocket but also a lot of money in his pocket (verse 12).
The opposite of contentment is a restlessness for things and stuff we don’t have. Restlessness will push you into debt. And debt is the enemy of contentment. Debt causes you extra stress in life.
2.2 Personal Discontentment
I drive a thirteen year old GMC Yukon right now. It’s essentially a suburban and it’s the fourth suburban Traci and I have owned over the past eighteen years. I really enjoy my car, it’s big enough for me and my family. It’s big enough that I just about throw anything in the back of it when I need to do so. But last year this past I found myself growing a little discontent about my car. I would see newer suburbans, the latest models, and I would picture how they had Apple CarPlay. I would think of the Bluetooth features and all the technology toys that my car doesn’t have. You know when you smartphone connects with the car and you run your maps and your audio through those Bose speakers? I admired the new suburban’s that was light blue and deep rose red with their beautiful new lines along the side. I would see them coming and going and I was growing discontent. I began to talk to myself. I would hear myself saying, “Scott, you need a new car! You deserve a new car.” But then I wondered, “How am I going to justify this purchase with my wife.” After all, my car could probably go another 80,000 more miles with little to no problem. I was growing discontent. I wish I could tell you that I read Philippians 4:10-13 and my discontentment went away. No, my discontentment stopped on a dime when I reminded myself of the prices of the new vehicle and our family budget! I found myself being quickly pulled back in “Contentment Land” all over again. In order to really experience margin in your life, you need to have a goal of living debt free.
2.3 Marriage and Contentment
Again, Paul says I found the secret: “In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need” (Philippians 4:12). If you are content, you have a higher probability of a more successful marriage. Marriage counselors tell us that couples who can agree on 4 major issues have a much higher probability of a successful marriage. Those four pillars are 1) Religion- How Will Our Religious Views Impact Our Marriage? 2) In-laws (Are We Prepared to Deal with Your Mother? 3) Parenting (Are We Going to Have Kids?) 4) and Money (Where Do We Stand on Money?). If you keep these four pillars standing strong in your marriage, you’ll have a leg up on most of the couples you know.
Couples who are NOT on the same page with their finances are destined for trouble. When one spouse feels the other spends their money foolishly, it increases the likelihood of divorce by 45% according to one recent study. In a study undertaken by the National Survey of Families and Households looking at 4,500 couples, it was determined that “arguments about money were longer and usually more intense than other types of marital disagreements.”
2.4 Yolanda
Let me share with you a story about a young lady named, Yolanda. She was a first generation American with immigrant parents from Guatemala. Yolanda fell into a materialism trap and nearly destroyed her marriage because of it. She had a misguided notion in her head that if she had a beautiful home nicely decorated with a formal dining room and a landscaped yard for her family to live in then she would be happy. She insisted her husband buy a home they could barely afford along with Ethan Allen furniture and a landscaped backyard – going into debt to do it. This young lady’s focus was on accumulating things instead of on her marriage and family. Fortunately for her, this story has a happy ending. When her mother passed away, something triggered in her that completely changed her outlook on her values. She got a much needed wake-up call about what was really important in life before it was too late.
Contentment will strengthen the quality of your marriage.
2.5 What’s Your Plan?
“The rich rules over the poor, and the borrower is the slave of the lender” (Proverbs 22:7). Yes, limited debt and strategic debt is biblical. But before you go into debt, do you have a plan to get out of debt? And by a plan, I mean a realistic plan. You need two tools this morning: you need the Lord to change your habits and you need a plan to get out of debt. Two popular plans for your to check out is the debt snow ball and the debt avalanche. If you’re going to get serious about experiencing life-changing contentment, then you’re going to need to make your life goal to be debt-free.
Author and speaker, Dave Ramsey gives a formula for doing impossible things in our lives: FOCUSED INTENSITY over TIME multiplied by GOD equals UNSTOPPABLE MOMENTUM.
1. The Enemy of Contentment
2. The Epitome of Contentment
3. The Essence of Contentment
3.1 What is Contentment?
What would it take for you to be content? To be content means you need to be satisfied with the Lord and what the Lord says about you. When you believe in Christ, you have the God of the universe saying to you, “I accept you as you are. I accept because I don’t look at you and your failures but I see my Son in your place.” As believers, the Lord Himself wraps us up with His loving arms and receives us. What else do we need in life beside this?
3.2 The Strength to Overcome Materialism
“I can do all things through him who strengthens me” (Philippians 4:13). Philippians 4:13 is speaking about the strength the Lord gives His children to be content. Ask the Lord right now to give your strength to change your financial behavior. Ask the Lord passionately because it is hard to change. Ask the Lord to give you the discipline to follow through on a plan to get out of debt.
3.3 John Lennox’s Story
Many years ago, John Lennox, an Oxford Professor of Mathematics, was in Hungary where he met a man whose demeanor impressed him greatly. In John’s own words, he said he was “…a humble man of great grace and warmth.” Eager to hear his story, John relates the following:
In the communist era he had been a village-school mathematics teacher, but he was also active in the local churches in the area, much in demand as a teacher of Scripture. One day he was summoned to the police station and questioned about his employment.
“You are a math teacher,” they said, “but you are also a Bible teacher, is not that so?”
“Yes, indeed,” he said, “I do that in my spare time.”
“And you get paid for it?” they asked.
“Not at all,” he said, “it is my contribution completely freely given.”
“We do not believe you,” they replied. “You must therefore choose. Either you continue as a school teacher or as a Bible teacher but not both, and you must give us your decision very soon.”
He went home that night to his family with a heavy heart. He had a large family, and it was not easy to feed them all, yet he decided to discuss the matter with them. He called them together and said, “I never want you children to be able to say that they were not consulted by their father in big decisions affecting family life.” So he outlined to them the choice he faced.
What should he do?
The youngest boy in the family said, “Dad, I cannot imagine you without a Bible in your hands.”
The decision was made and he had to leave the school. Finding work was difficult, and in the end he had to content himself with the backbreaking work of lifting and carrying heavy slates in a quarry. The slates had sharp edges, and his wife told me that many an evening she had to dress his hands with bandages so that the blood from his many abrasions would not drip onto the Bible he was using in the pulpit.
One day he was called into the manager's office. “I hear that you once taught mathematics?”
“That's right.”
“Well,” said the foreman, “I am underqualified for my job, and under new regulations we all need basic qualifications in mathematics. How would you like to teach me, instead of working in the quarry?” He jumped at it and discovered to his joy that his pay was more than he had received as a teacher in the school.
When you know God, you can move forward with confidence and contentment. Nothing will give you more day-to-day confidence and contentment in your life than knowing God.
Conclusion
If the God of the universe speaks into your very being saying, “I love you,” what else do you need?
