So the beginning, excuse me, the part I want to look at there is in verse 11 of Philippians chapter 4
Where it says not that I speak in respect of want, for I have learned in whatsoever state I am
therewith to be content. And he's saying I have learned to be content. I want to preach on the subject of being content
tonight, and I'm preaching a sermon entitled first world problems, first world problems. Now, you know that might not be a term
we're completely familiar with when I say first world problems, and that's a term that came out of, if you remember, back
during the the cold war. That's kind of where they developed that term.
And basically you had, you know, everybody that was, you know, the westernized, you know, western civilization, the European,
a lot of the European countries, and of course, you know, basically anybody that wasn't in the Soviet Union and was aligned with NATO,
you know, that was considered a first world country. And
then, of course, you had the second world, which was, you know, the Soviet Union, you know, that whole thing, and then
everybody else that was not part of that, you know, a lot of the African countries and others, was considered third world, okay?
Now, that's kind of taken out a different meaning today
basically because the Soviet Union's been dissolved. It doesn't exist anymore.
It's, if anything, they're more of a first world country now because of the fact that they are, you know, a little bit more prosperous.
They have a lot of the things that we have. So basically today when you say first world,
what you're saying, you're talking about is a country or a place where, you know, it's probably
capitalism is very strong. There's a lot of a fluency where there's,
you know, people are, have a high standard of living, basically. That's what we say today. Say this is a first world problem.
You know, what's, you know, we're gonna look at some examples of first world problems, right? One would be, you know,
the fact that, hey, the Wi-Fi quit working, you know, and people start complaining about, you know,
I don't get any cell service here. These are first world problems.
You know, I dropped my DVD or, you know, I got a scratch on it or something like that or, you know,
I, they didn't have the exact model of Nikes that I wanted. These are first world problems.
These aren't things that they're, you know, worried about in a lot of, many places in the world today.
You know, they're literally, you know, just trying to round up dinner from day to day.
You know, those are other countries and I think this is important to look at because, you know,
we are living in a very materialistic society.
You know, we're living in a world and a culture that's teaching us to be materialistic people, to pursue things, to pursue pleasures,
to want to just, you know, accumulate things and accumulate wealth. And I'm not opposed to wealth.
I'm not against that, you know, God, the Bible says that God gives us knowledge and ability and strength to get wealth.
That, you know, that if God will prosper us and bless us as we work hard and are diligent,
there's nothing wrong with having nice things. You know, it's nice to have first world problems.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining about the fact that we have first world.
I will take the first world problems over any of the other world's problems any day.
You know, we're not worried about some kind of, you know, plague or, you know, starvation and things like that.
We have a lot of things going for us that are good, but we, to counter that,
we have to make sure that we don't become ungrateful people, that we don't turn into discontent, unthankful, ungrateful people.
And, you know, the one way to kind of check this is to make sure, you know, how do we feel about our problems?
You know, sometimes when things come up in life, that to us, you know,
if we experience some first world problem and it's just throwing us into a tailspin
and it just ruins our whole day or ruins our whole week, you know,
maybe it's time to do a little inventory, time to do a little check on our hearts to see are we a contented people?
Are we grateful, you know?
Because we never really know that until we're put in the position of not having to go without, of having to have less.
So, you know, our high state, our high standard of living, our first world condition, you know, makes us,
I believe, you know, maybe not us specifically, but there's always that possibility,
makes us prone to complain or take for granted things that, you know, other people go without for their entire lifetime.
You know, one example that came to mind was, you know, traffic or vehicles.
You know, we can complain about our cars, can't we?
Because sometimes a car can be a real pain in the neck, you know, just ask my wife.
She's got that 2007 Dodge Caravan.
I mean, she's just riding high on the hog.
You know, and the AC is working, but, you know, the window is broken.
You know, when the liner on the inside starts to fall down a little bit, you know,
maybe I could do a little bit more to help there and confess my fault.
Not that she complains, but what we could, couldn't we?
We could say, hey, you know, this car is a piece of junk, you know, but then we would look at the rest of the world and say,
well, you know, the vast majority of people don't even have a vehicle.
I was looking into this, you know, the motoristic rate, I believe is the term, you know, how many people per 1,000 people have a vehicle.
And once you get past like that first 20 or 30 out of the 180 plus countries in the world, the vast majority of people don't have cars.
Now, this doesn't account for things like scooters, you know, motorcycles.
But come on, you know, you're really going to compare a motorcycle or a scooter to a car.
It doesn't, you're exposed to the elements.
You can't carry as much.
You can't cart as many people around.
You know, with my family, you know, scooters aren't going to work.
You know, we're not, I can't just stack them up on mom, you know, straight up and just have her balance her way.
You know, someone's going to catch a, you know, a telephone line on the way to church or something like that, right?
And so I'm not saying that everybody else is walking, but a lot of people in this world don't even enjoy the benefits of owning a four-wheeled vehicle, right?
And that's something that we in the first world, we probably, you know, maybe it's not the vehicle itself, we'll complain about traffic.
Oh, this traffic.
Well, guess what?
You are traffic.
You know, you're part of the problem if you're complaining about it, right?
Or we'll complain about how long it takes to get somewhere.
You know, that's one thing we hear a lot if you go out door knock and you tell people we're over on the south side.
Oh, and we're like 30 minutes away from the church or less.
Oh, you're all the way over here?
It's like, good night.
Like, is it really that far?
It would be if we were walking.
Maybe you'd have to complain, but it's, you know, you got cars in the driveway, it's really not that far.
But these are examples of, you know, what first world problems, right?
And when we find ourselves complaining, you know, about these things, and it's natural for us to kind of just, you know, talk about them, kind of get irritated with things.
But we always want to kind of check ourselves and say, look, is this really getting to me?
You know, and this is something you say, where is this coming from?
You know, well, I experienced the first world problem this week.
You know, I had my AC went out at my house and, you know, I and I, you know, I've always before I was a renter, you know, and I could just call somebody and say, hey, your AC is broken and, you know, get fixed pretty quick.
But now that I'm the homeowner and I'm just saying, you know, praise the Lord that I got that home warranty because it was a very expensive repair that didn't cost me hardly anything at all.
But, you know, we did have to go several days.
It was so hot, like I had memory lapse.
I think I put it out of my mind.
I don't remember how many exact many days it was, but it was several days.
It was seven days.
I'm getting I'm getting the signal from she didn't say it, folks.
She just signaled, OK.
She said she signaled me seven days.
So a whole week without AC in the midst of a Tucson summer.
OK, I know at first it was it wasn't that bad.
Places insulated pretty well.
I found that out.
Right. That's the silver lining, so to speak.
But as the days began to wear on, you know, it got more and more frustrating.
You had to experience the first world problem.
And I'm not going to get up here and say, well, I just took it like a champ.
You know, I took it all in stride.
You know, for me, it wasn't so bad.
Like, I believe me, I'm not I'm accustomed to being without climate control.
I mean, I've lived in literal shacks before.
But when you see your family kind of going through it, you know, your kids are all
matted and sweaty and your wife's, you know, nursing and trying to cook and everything else.
You know, you don't even want to boil water because it's just you don't want to raise the temperature.
Right. So I'm not going to sit here and say I didn't stand in front of that AC unit, you know,
and thought, maybe if I just flip the breaker one more time, it'll just come on.
Or maybe if I just throw this wrench at it, you know, it'll come on.
Right. But, you know, we kind of went through that.
And I've heard other people in the past talk about, you know, oh, our AC went out.
Pray for us. You know, I'm like, pray for you.
Is it really? I'm like, OK, now I can kind of see.
And I told one person, like, well, time to get that hotel.
And I'm thinking, no way. It's time to go down to Ace and buy about six box fans, you know, make it work.
And that's what we did. But you know what?
It kind of got me thinking. This is a first world problem.
You know, I bet you the vast majority, I was trying to find the stats.
Of course, if you put in anything like, you know, climate, if you Google anything climate control,
you just get a bunch of, you know, stuff on global warming.
It was hard to find any actual stats.
But you just think about where the vast majority of people live.
In India, you know, Asia, that part of the world where it's what?
Usually, generally very warm, right?
Because that's, you don't have to worry so much about climate control, you know.
But here's the thing. We can complain about not having the AC working some first world problem.
But, you know, people were living in this valley even without roofs.
You know, they were living in huts and they were living in definitely without AC.
How, why are millions of people living in the middle of a desert floor in the valley?
It's it's because of AC, right?
You know, a lot of times people, you know, they would just take their beds.
There's that house up in Tempe, that historical home.
I can't remember the name of it, Priest and Southern.
You can go visit it where there was like some of the first people that pioneered here, you know, the homesteaders.
And they would in the hot summers, they would just take their beds outdoors, you know,
and they would they had ways of avoiding the scorpions and everything like that, you know.
So people have have tough it out in the past.
You know, we're kind of getting a little softer these days with all of our first world problems.
Again, they're good problems to have.
You know, hey, the AC went out and it just made it all the better when that the technician showed up yesterday and fixed it.
You know, I've never heard a sweeter sound than that blower kicking on, you know, and the fans turning off.
But, you know, people have gone through much harder things than that, obviously.
You know, and we need to if we're finding ourselves complaining often about our first world problems, our minor inconveniences,
maybe the problem isn't the problem that we you know, maybe the problem is our heart.
Maybe the problem is our attitude or the fact that we've begun to take things for granted.
That's what Paul was saying here. He said in verse 11, not that I speak in respect of want, for I have learned, you know,
and I always point that out when I read through this verse, I have learned, you know, being content.
He said, I have learned what whatsoever state I am there with to be content.
That was something he had to learn.
That's not natural. That's not just something you just do automatically.
You have to go through things. You have to suffer. You have to go without. You can learn to be content.
You know, people that have always had everything and have never gone without, you know, when they start to,
if they ever run into lean times, it's a lot harder for them because there's that learning curve.
There's that period of them having to adjust. You know, when the AC went out,
there was a period of us having to adjust to, you know, it being 80 almost, you know, got into the 90s in our house.
You know, we had to adjust to that, but, you know, we did.
He said, I have learned therewith to be content.
I know both how to be abased and I know how to abound and everywhere and all things.
I am instructed to both to be full and to be hungry.
He said, I'm used to all of it. I can do any of it, both to abound and to suffer need.
Why? I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.
And really, that's what I want to drive home at tonight is that what's going to get us through
and what's going to keep our heart right and make sure that we're not falling prey to ingratitude
or being an ungrateful people is when we understand that it's Christ which strengthens us.
When we make Christ our all in all, a lot of these other problems don't seem so bad.
A lot of our first world problems, really we can just look at, we're almost privileged to even have that problem.
It's a privilege to even say, you know, my car has some mechanical issue.
It's a privilege to be able to say my AC went out. I have to wait seven days for the tech to repair it.
That's when you really look at it and understand that that's a privilege that we have.
And if we're finding ourselves discontent, you know, it's probably because of the fact that, you know,
we're not focused on the right things. We're only concerned about ourselves.
It's Christ that's going to strengthen us.
But again, contentment is something that has to be learned through experience.
That's what Paul said, you know, I have learned.
And that can be difficult in a society like ours, in a first world, which is very prosperous.
You know, people are having a lot of things just, you know, they're just born into things.
They just, you know, we, I mean, there's whole generations that don't know what it's like to have a phone attached to a wall with a wire on it.
They would say, what? I can't text on this thing, right? Because they're just born into that, right?
But then even farther back, I mean, I remember in junior high, they had one of the much older ladies.
She was like in a hundred, almost a hundred years old or something like that.
And this is back in the early 90s. And she was around before, you know, television was invented.
Like she had seen World War One, World War Two. She had seen all these advents, all these different.
I remember just being amazed by that as a kid, just thinking, wow,
there's people that are alive today that knew what it's like to not have a telephone, you know, that lived without electricity.
You know, and what I'm getting at is that, you know, that and they it's hard for us to be content people when our standard of living is so high, even from birth.
We're just born into this, you know, this life of really of relative ease and luxury.
I mean, all the foods that we have, all the conveniences that we have.
And if we're not careful, you know, and again, that's our privilege.
That's our advantage to have that. I'm not complaining about that.
I'm just saying we need to check our hearts. If we find ourselves complaining, we find ourselves discontent.
You know, we really need to take a big step back and look at how privileged we are to even have some of the problems that we have.
Being content in a prosperous society such as ours can be a difficult thing.
Go over to Colossians chapter three, Colossians chapter three, and I won't take long tonight.
But, you know, this can be a difficult thing, being content in a prosperous society.
That was something that Jesus pointed out with the church allowed to see us, right?
They were what? He said, thou sayest I am rich and increased with goods and have need of nothing.
They were very prosperous. You know, they had a lot of material wealth. They thought that gain was godliness, right?
So they had all this gain. They had all of these increase of goods.
And he said, thou knowest not that thou are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked.
So it's our spiritual condition that we should be most concerned with.
It's our spiritual condition that matters most.
And if we would keep, you know, our spiritual condition to what it is supposed to be if we were a contented and grateful people,
you know, when first world problems come up and pop up, and they will, you know, we'd probably be able to take it in stride.
You'd probably say, this is nothing. This really isn't that big of a deal.
But there's a lot of people today if, you know, man, if that sandwich doesn't get made quick enough at the deli counter,
it's, you know, people just lose their mind state. I mean, you go see the freak out compilations on YouTube and things like that.
All the people in public places who just, you know, their latte wasn't made fast enough or wasn't the right temperature.
And it's, can I speak to the manager? You know, and people just complain about the most frivolous,
silly, you know, pointless things that just ruin their day. Why? Because they have, they are out of a spiritual adjustment.
They're, you know, they're spiritually misaligned. They don't have Christ strengthening them and giving them the ability to do all things.
You know, we should be a grateful people. You can measure your contentment.
You can say, oh, how content am I really? Because again, it's difficult to do today, isn't it?
Because we have so much. It's, you'd have to go out of your way to go without.
You'd have to go out of your way to lose a lot of the advantages that we have living in a first world country.
So how would you measure that without, you know, giving up all of the things, right?
And effective, you know, making yourself pretty much ineffective in society.
Well, I'm just gonna start walking everywhere to see how grateful I really am. I'm gonna stop using a phone.
You know, that's going to make life difficult. These are things that our society has built itself around.
We need to have them. So how are you going to measure and check yourself spiritually where you're at?
Well, I think you can measure that by the level of gratitude that you have. How grateful are you for the things that you have?
If you go over to, you're in Colossians three, the Bible says in First Thessalonians chapter five in verse 18,
And everything give thanks for this is the will of God and Christ Jesus concerning you.
You know, God's will is that in everything we give thanks. And I always want to point that out.
It says in everything, in everything, you know, we give thanks in the midst of difficulties, of persecutions.
Whatever we're going through, we should be able to thank God for it because we know that whatsoever things work for good to them that love God,
then they're called according to His purpose. You know, if we love the Lord and we're living for Him no matter what happens,
you know, it's easy to say that, isn't it? It's easy to get up and preach that.
It's easy to get up and just think that in our own minds.
But until we actually go through that, speaking of AC, is that on? Is anyone else hot?
Can you crank it down a few knocks? Maybe I'm just like, you think at this point I'd be really used to being hot,
but maybe now that I know it's there, I've got to have it. You know, this feels warm in here and I'm sure everybody else does too.
But what was I saying? I'm saying, look, we need to learn to be contented people.
And the gauge of that is how grateful are you? You know, and we should learn to be thankful in all things.
You know, and Paul, you know, he's referring to things like persecutions, tribulations, things that, you know,
in a lot of ways we haven't even come close to. We're miles away from things like that.
But what about when we go through things like a long line at the grocery store, call waiting, you know, these first world problems?
Can we give thanks in these little tiny things?
If we're struggling in these areas, you know, maybe we just need to check ourselves and say, am I really a grateful person?
Do I even recognize this problem as a privilege and see that I'm even privileged to have this problem?
Look at Colossians chapter three, verse 12, put on, therefore, as the elective God, holy and beloved,
bowels of mercy, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, long suffering, forbearing one another and forgiving one another.
If any man have a quarrel against any, even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye.
And above all these things, put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness.
And let the peace of God rule in your hearts to the which you are called to one body and be ye thankful.
He said, be ye thankful. You know, this is the will of God concerning us, that we should be a thankful people.
And not just once a year, you know, in November when Thanksgiving rolls around, not just around the holiday season.
You know, we should be a thankful people at all times.
As Paul said, if both Thessalonians in everything at all times, we should be, you know, we should be we should be putting these things on.
We should these are just to be attributes that define us.
And one of them should be thankfulness. We should be a grateful people.
He goes on and says in verse 16, let the word of Christ dwell in you richly with all wisdom,
teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts.
And whatsoever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him.
So we should one way we can measure whether or not we're contented people is how grateful we are.
Do we do we have and, you know, an attitude of gratitude when it comes to life?
Or are we always finding ourselves complaining about every little thing?
You know, they didn't have my favorite flavor shot at Starbucks. They were out and just ruined my day.
Look, it sounds silly, but people let things like this get to them.
This ruins people. The stupid, trivial little things just ruin people's days today.
You know, just ruined. They get upset. They get mad. Why? Because they're discontent because they haven't learned to give thanks in all things.
They don't have Christ strengthening them. He's not their all in all.
Say, well, maybe that's mean. You know, maybe I'm having a struggle in this area.
Well, you could increase, you know, your your your gratitude.
You can increase your gratefulness by doing what? When you realize that food and arraignment is all that God promises.
You know, everything else besides the besides the clothes on your back and the food in your belly from day to day,
everything besides that is just gravy in life. That's just icing on the cake. It's extra.
You know, God hasn't promised anything beyond that. Those are the things that are guaranteed.
You know, he's not going to suffer us to hunger. He's not going to let his seed beg bread.
But that he doesn't say, you know, he's not going to suffer his seed to have, you know, a single car garage.
You know, he's going to have a two car garage. You know, he's going to have, you know, X amount of square feet in the home.
He's going to have, you know, the nicest of this and the best of that. That's not what God promised.
You know, and we need to think about this because here's the thing. Some people, that's what they want you to think.
You know, these prosperity preachers, they want you to think that if you don't have the latest, the greatest,
the best and the abundance of wealth, that you're just not right with God.
You know, but that's not what God promised. You know, if you would go over to, go over to Matthew chapter six.
Matthew chapter six. We know this passage. It's very familiar.
You know, God hasn't promised us anything beyond food and raiment and that if we have those things, isn't that what Paul said there?
He said that we needed to, you know, having food and raiment, let us therewith be content.
Well, I've got, you know, I'm not starving. I got clothes on. I'm content.
I'm sheltered from the elements. I'm not exposed to the elements.
I'm not going to get sunburn. I'm not going to freeze to death. You know, I've got food in my belly.
If anything, I've got too much. You know, and if I, what else is there to complain about?
You know, I'm in good health and I'm taken care of. Everything else is just extra.
So even if something goes wrong, you know, like an AC going out or having vehicle trouble,
you know, or money troubles or, you know, whatever, these first world problems that pop up in our life,
if something else goes wrong, we should be able to take that in stride if we are a grateful people.
He said in Matthew six, verse twenty five, where therefore I say unto you,
take no thought for your life, what you shall eat or what you shall drink, nor yet for your body.
What you shall put on is not the life more than meat and the body more than raiment.
You know, he said that he's going to take care of these things for us.
He's going to give us these things. We're going to have the food. We're going to have the raiment.
We don't have to worry about that. We're not to worry about that.
He said, take no thought for these things. Meaning what? That he's going to take thought for that.
You know, he said, behold the fowls of the air. You know, they sow not, neither do they toil.
Yet Solomon in all his glory, you know, was not arrayed like one of these.
You know, speaking of the field, the grass of the field, you know, they didn't, they don't toil, neither do they spin.
Yet, you know, Solomon, you know, he had everything he needed.
You know, we shouldn't worry about all these little things that are going to come up in life.
If we have food, if we have raiment, we can be content.
What I'm saying is this, is that in order to increase your gratitude, you're saying, look, I let little things in life.
I let these first world problems get to me. These things get me down. These things bother me.
Maybe it's a lack of gratefulness. Maybe it's a lack of, you know, maybe we take things for granted.
Maybe we're not as thankful of a people as we should be.
You know, another area, another way to increase your thankfulness, you know, to help in this is to think about the fact that you're not going to take any of it with you.
I mean, think about that. Maybe we get our priorities right. Maybe we wouldn't make such a big deal about, you know, what vehicle we drive or
what kind of house we live in or where we live or what our status is or what toys we have or don't have.
You know, how we spend our time, what leisurely activities we get to do or don't get to.
Maybe it wouldn't be such a big deal to us if we realized it's all vanity anyway and we can't take any of it with us.
Go over to Psalms 95. Psalms 95.
Psalms 95. He said in 1st Timothy 6, but godliness with contentment is great gain.
For we brought nothing into this world and it is certain we can carry nothing out and
having food and raiment let us be, let us be there with content.
I mean, what else, what are you going to take with you when you die? Nothing.
You know, naked came I forth from my mother's womb and naked shall I go.
That's how what Job said, you know, he came, we came with nothing, he's leaving with nothing.
That would help us with our gratitude. That'd help us make us a more thankful people if we
just realized, you know, what we do have is momentary anyway. It's brief, it's fleeting.
And what it would do, the way that would work is that it would, if you could wrap your head
around this and be mindful of this fact, it would remind you that the most important things in life
are intangible. The most important things in life you cannot put your hands on. They cannot be,
it's not something you can manipulate physically. The most important things in life are our
relationships. The most important things in life are our families, our friendships, our church,
the souls that we win, the spiritual things that we do, things that are intangible, things that you
can't hold on to, things that you can't take with you. Those are, and when we get so obsessed and
caught up in our first world problems and become ungrateful people, you know, we lose sight of the
things that are most important, which are the things that, you know, even in some ways can't
even be seen. They're not things that you can, you know, take with you and lay your hands on.
If we'd be more grateful people, you know, we would realize that those are the things that
really matter. If we put the emphasis where it really matters, you know, these other things
wouldn't bother us so much. Oh, the AC went out, but I have a wonderful family. You know,
I have great children. I have a wonderful wife. I have a great church to go to. What does it matter?
You know, it's just a bump in the road. It's not going to ruin my day. You know,
or maybe it's a more long-term problem, or maybe it's even a more serious problem. You know,
maybe it's even a health problem. You know, we're probably going to run into those as we all grow
older. You know, we're going to run into, you know, disease. We're going to run into illness.
We're going to run into sickness. We're all going to go through that, and those are hard things to
go through, but we could be content even through that if we realized, hey, I might not have my
health, but I am saved. I'm on my way to heaven. You know, if this does take me out, I'm going to
heaven. I'm not saying it's going to, you know, make it a cakewalk, but you know what? It's going
to keep us from being a disgruntled, bitter people, an ungrateful people. We need to be a
grateful people, and here's the thing. In my experience, did I have you go to Psalm 95?
Is that the most grateful people I know are those that seem to know the Lord the best,
the most, you know, the happiest, most contented people are people that I also consider to be good
godly Christians that love, you know, that love the Lord, and it's not a coincidence. Why? Because
they've got their priorities right. You know, they've aligned their priorities, their values
with, you know, heavenly things. The Bible says in Psalm 95 verse 1, oh come let us sing unto the
Lord. Let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation. Let us come before his presence
with thanksgiving. You know, a lot of times we'll go to God. We'll go to his presence with a lot of
requests, right, and there's nothing wrong with that. You know, the Bible says we should make a
request unknown unto God, that we should come boldly before the throne to find grace and mercy
and help in a time of need. You know, we should do that, and he challenges us to do that, you know,
to ask what you will, you know, and to receive so that we might receive, you know. He does say that.
I understand that, but, you know, there's also a time where we should be coming into his presence
with what? Thanksgiving. You know, that's a great way to start off prayer is just with thinking
about all the things that you already have, thinking about all the things that God has
already done for you, and thanking God for that. You know, that'd probably increase your faith, too.
If you would sit down when you go to pray and actually think about, well, I know I have this need.
I'm going to ask God for it, and the Bible says that I should ask in faith nothing wavering,
you know, not to be a double-minded man. You know, I don't want to do that. Maybe what I should do is
take a minute and just think about all the things that God already has done for me,
and thank him for that and acknowledge that. That would probably even give you more faith
to go ahead and ask for the things that you have need of, right? But he said,
let us sing in the Lord. Let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation. Let us come
before his presence with thanksgiving and make a joyful noise unto him with psalms, for the Lord
is a great God and a great King above all gods. You know, and I thought when I was preparing this,
I thought about, you know, families and people that I've known, like I said, that seem to have
this down were people that, you know, love the Lord. You know, I think about one family in
particular back in Michigan who, you want to talk about living in rough circumstances. I mean,
they're living in northern Michigan in the single-wide trailer where the last residents
cut firewood inside the trailer, and there's literal ax holes in the floor, ax holes in the
ceiling, you know, and one of the kids, they were telling me that when they would lay in bed at
night and the wind was strong enough, and I'm talking the middle of a Michigan winter where
it's like negative degrees and the wind's blowing, she would sit there and she'd lay in bed and watch
her wall come apart from the floor and she could see outside. This is the kind of living
conditions they were in. I remember we went, they eventually were able to save up after,
they lived like that for years, but they were very happy people. They'd come to church,
they were always very pleasant to be around, they sang, they would do the specials, and,
you know, you wouldn't know that, you know, they were a very low income, you know, and people would
look at them and say, boy, you have nothing. Well, but they had everything, you know, they
had the, she had an upright piano, the daughter played very beautifully, they all sang very nice,
they were, it was a very pleasant people to be around, but you know what, they didn't have a lot.
You know, one vehicle down a dirt road, you know, in a single-wide that had been literally,
you know, hit with an ax multiple times on the inside, right, and we floor, holes in the floor,
kind of a place, and you know, I saw that home, and we went out there, and we were
building their new home on that lot. They finally had gotten enough money,
and, you know, long story short, we were helping them, you know, frame it in, put the roof on,
and help them build this new or nicer home for them that, boy, if anybody needed, it was them,
and I just remember, you know, when they had the basement filled,
the mom and the daughter, they went down that basement, they were just singing hymns,
because of the echo, and it was, it was just one of the most, I never forget, it was the most
beautiful things I've ever heard, but, you know, that could not have, you know,
a lot of people in that same position, they wouldn't have had the mind to do that.
They would be going, hurry up, what's taking so long, don't you see what I'm living in?
You know, they're down there singing, praising God, and I remember just as a young man thinking,
you know what, that's what I want for my life. I want a family with godly children, and a godly
wife, and, you know, but I learned that from people who had done what, learned to be very
content with the things that they had, right, and God eventually gave them more.
The Bible says in Psalm 100, if you want to jump over there real quick, Psalm 100 verse 4,
enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise, be thankful unto him,
and bless his name. You know, unless, you know, you got a raw deal in life,
you know, unless, you know, the cards dealt you, you know, were, you know, were a little bit harder
to play, you know, unless you have some excuse. No, to me that there's no clause here, you know,
if we're going to come into God's presence, it better be with thanksgiving, because I don't care
what's going on, you know, if God's given us breath, if God has given us life, you know,
we're saved, you have something to be thankful for, and we shouldn't let things, you know,
especially first world problems, you know, ruin us, and make us bitter, angry people, you know,
we should be thankful people at all times. We have much to be thankful for. Why should we enter his
gates with thanksgiving? Why should we enter his courts with praise? Why should we be thankful
unto him and bless him? For the Lord is good, it says. His mercy is everlasting, and his truth
endureth all generations. You know, God is good. No matter what happens, God is good, and his mercy
is everlasting. You know, salvation is never going to fail us. We're always going to be saved. We're
always going to have the mercy of God. We have much to be thankful for that alone. You say, well,
how do I know if I'm a contented person? Well, one way to measure it is how thankful are you?
You know, how do I know that I'm not, you know, being ruined by my first world problems?
Well, how grateful are you for the things that you do have? But another way to measure it is,
you know, how much do you complain? How much complaining do I do? How much complaining do I
do about these little things that come up? And if you would, go over, I'm going to wrap it up,
but go over to Philippians chapter two, Philippians chapter two.
You know, we can measure our discontentment by the level of our complaining. We can measure
our ingrat or our gratitude by how thankful we are. We can also measure how discontent we are
by how much we complain about things. If we find ourselves as always complaining, it's because
we're a discontented people. It's because we're not grateful. We're, you know, grateful people
don't complain. You know, when, when mom puts some, you know, works hard, makes some delicious
meal and puts it on the table and the kids or whoever, you know, oh, this again, that's
ingratitude. You know, that's, that's discontent. You know, maybe you should just eat, you know,
cold beans out of a can for a week. And then, you know, that, that meal that you loathe will be
pretty good, won't it? You know, we, we, we can measure our discontentment by how much complaining
we do. That's where complaining comes from, really. It's when we complain about things,
it's because we're not content with such things as we have. And here's the thing about it. So why
are you taking the time to preach on this? Because God hates complaining. You know, it's not just the
parents that hate complaining. You know, it's not just your neighbor that hates complaining. It's
not just your coworker. It's not just your spouse that can't stand complaining. God hates complaining.
God does not like it when his people murmur and complain and whine, no matter what their
circumstances are. You know, and we should make sure that we have a measure on that because
God hates it. You know, it's not like he wiped out a whole generation of people in the wilderness
over murmuring. Oh wait, yeah, he did. It's not like he, you know, held back the blessing of God
from an entire, you know, generation of people because of their murmuring and their complaining,
except that he did, you know, and God shows us that that's what he thinks of it. You know,
he hates murmuring or what the, you know, or he hates complaining or what the Bible, you know,
often refers to as murmuring. And what is it to murmur? You know, murmuring is like this,
this is kind of, you know, if you speak real softly and he's talking like this. It's like
when the boss tells you to do something at work and then you kind of walk away. Oh, don't do it,
but not to be happy about it. You know, you're just, you're murmuring, you know, or you tell
the kids to go do something. What was that? You know, they're, they're, they're, they're,
they're, they're murmuring what they're muttering under their breath, right? And what that is,
is a form of complaining. You know, I'll go along with it, but I'm not happy about it.
And I'm gonna say it just loud enough so you know I'm saying something, but you don't know what I'm
saying, right? It's to utter, you know, sounds or words in a low, almost inaudible tone as in
expressing a dissatisfaction to murmur a disagreement. You know, you're going to go
along with it, but you're not happy about it, so you're going to what? You're going to murmur,
you're going to complain. And sometimes, you know, God might put us through things in life,
God trials might come our way, difficulties might come our way, and we'll say, well, I guess I'll
go ahead and go through this. I don't have much choice, you know, but, and God's going to see us
through, but really what he's checking us for is how we take it. Are we going to murmur our way
through this trial, or are we going to, in all things, give thanks? You know, that sometimes God
tests us in that way. There, you're there in Philippians chapter 2, look at verse 12.
Wherefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in
my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God which worketh
in you both to dwell and to do of his good pleasure. You know, God's going to work in our
life to his good pleasure. You know, God knows what we need, God's going to put us through
testings and trials, and God's going to work in our lives for his pleasure, and it's not always
just going to be to make us happy. I mean, you could think about a lot of the things that God
says just don't do, right? Things concerning the flesh, right? God says, you know, don't be a drunk,
don't be a fornicator, don't just give in to the lust of the flesh. And here's the thing,
those are things that, you know, the spirit, the Bible says that the spirit which dwelleth in us
lusteth to envy. You know, I'm not going to get up here and say that we aren't tempted to do those
things, that our flesh, the old man, wants to do those things, right? But God says don't do it,
why? For his good pleasure. You know, God's will for us is our sanctification. We'll say, okay,
you know what, I'll go along with that. I'm not going to be a drunk, I'm not going to be a fornicator,
I'm not going to be, you know, I'm going to get the sin of my life. That's great, but what's your
attitude like? Are we doing it murmuring? Are we doing it with complaining? Or are we thanking God
for it? Thinking, thank God that I can get rid of this sin, that I can live a godly and clean life.
Thank God for that. You know, a lot of Christians, they live a godly clean life, but, you know, I wonder
if they don't murmur about it. I wonder if they don't complain about, well, you know, I know I'm
not supposed to do that, but, you know, and I don't do it, but, you know, it's only because God said not
to, you know. And look, if that's the case, great, you know, that's not, you know, it's better to do
that than to get involved in sin. But, you know, that should be, that should cause us to check our
hearts. You know, are we doing things out of a pure heart? Are we doing things because we want
to do God's pleasure in our life? Because we want God to be pleased with us. Are we happy to do those
things? Or do we find ourselves murmuring and complaining? Going along, but kind of saying under
our breath. Because that, you know, in Numbers, that's where it happened. You know, after he said,
hey, you're not going into the promised land, you know, they were turned around, and they went away.
They went away, okay, well, I guess we won't go in. We'll go back in wilderness. And they murmured.
That's when the murmuring started, right? And that's when God decided, well, you know what, you're
never going in. He says there in Philippians, for it is God, verse 13, for it is God which worketh in
you both to will and to do of his good pleasure. Do all things without murmurings and disputings.
You know, don't murmur, don't complain, do all things. You know, again, you know, no matter who
it is, you know, we're talking about God, you know, God wants us to live a certain way. Maybe we should
do that without murmuring and disputing, arguing with God. You know, but what about on the job?
You know, when the boss tells us to do something, and he says, do this, get it done. Okay, I guess
I'll do it, but, you know, I'm just going to let you know, I don't like this idea, or I don't think
this is good. You know, we're murmuring, we're disputing, we argue, you know, that's not right.
You know, or, you know, of course, you know, children and parents, when the parents say, hey,
do this, this is what I want done. Okay, I'll do it. And there's the murmuring, the disputing.
The Bible says to do all things without murmurings, do all things without disputings.
That you may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke in the midst of a crooked
and perverse nation of whom ye shine as lights in the world. Look, if we learn to, you know,
take our first world problems in stride, you know what we would do? We would shine as lights
in a perverse and crooked nation. Because the rest of the world, they're so babied and pampered,
and just, you know, we're living in such an affluent society that we don't even recognize
it half the time. How good we really got it. And when every little, any little thing goes wrong,
you know, when they can't get a connection on the Wi-Fi, or, you know, their drink isn't right,
or they have to drive, you know, a used vehicle, or they get a hand, you know, they complain about
this, these stupid little things. And when they see us, you know, going with less, being content,
and not murmuring, not disputing, what are we going to be? Blameless, harmless, we're going to,
but we're going to shine as lights in the world. I mean, that's what, that was the illustration,
that was the story I told you a minute ago. You know, that family that lived in that dilapidated
trailer out in the sticks, you know, they shined as lights in the world. They shined to me.
You know, why? Because they weren't complaining about what they had. They were grateful people.
They were glad they had a single wide with a wood stove, and, you know, at least half the year
when the wind blew in, it was a cool wind in the summer. You know, at least they were,
they saw the silver lining, right? And that's the way we should be, you know, and it's hard to do
if we become a discontented people. You're not going to do it. If we don't have a grateful
attitude, if we're not thankful for the things that we have, you know, we're not going to shine
as lights. We're going to be just like the rest of the world. You know, we're going to feel entitled.
We're going to want what we want right away. We're going to be what? Spoiled,
pretty much. Go over to Hebrews 13, and we'll close there, Hebrews chapter 13.
And that's kind of what I'm going to cross tonight, is that, you know, we need,
I'm not saying we need to go be destitute people. You know, that we should just leave this country
and go find some third world country to live in just so they can prove how much we love God.
You know, what we should do rather is just be more grateful. We just should be,
we should be grateful for the things we have, including the first world problems that we have.
You know, when we have some problem, like an AC blower going out or whatever, or
the plumbing, you know, backing up, we should say, well, that's a good problem to have.
It's a good problem that my indoor plumbing needs fixed, because that means I have
indoor plumbing. You know, I'm not, you know, we're not having to go to a ditch. You know, hey,
the sink's not coming, the water's not coming out of the sink. Yeah, that's a problem. That's my
privilege to have that problem, because there's some places they don't even have the running
water. Okay. And this is just a reminder for us to be more grateful people. And how are we going
to measure that? How are we going to measure whether or not we're truly content is how much,
how grateful we are, how much complaining do we do. And, you know, if we want to, if we want to
get these things in balance, if we want to increase our gratefulness and decrease our,
you know, murmuring, you know, then we need to make sure that we stop taking things for granted.
And especially the things that we have in Christ. You know, it's easy to say, well, yeah,
I'm just gonna be mindful of the fact that I live in a safe neighborhood, I drive a safe vehicle,
I have good food, I have a great church. You know, that's great. We should be grateful for
those things. But what happens when we don't have those things? What would we be grateful for then,
if all that was taken away? Well, we should be grateful most of all for what we have in Christ.
And if we would learn to do that, you know, if we would learn to be grateful with that, you know,
then we could be strengthened, you know, then he would strengthen us what? So that we can do all
things through Christ. Through him. You know, when he is, you know, our all in all. Look at Hebrews
13 verse 5, it says, let your conversation be without covetousness. You know, don't go around
just wishing you had everything everybody else had. That's what he's saying. Be without covetousness
and be content with such things as you have. You know, what do you have? Instead of worrying about
what you don't have, maybe we should just take inventory of what we do have. You know,
and that's the thing. People get caught up in this hamster wheel of always wanting the latest,
the greatest, the next great thing. They get something and then something else comes along
and say, well, now I need to have that. Look, that's the race that the world runs. That's the,
you know, the hamster wheel that they're on. Not us. We shouldn't be on that. You know,
we should be without covetousness. We should be content with such things as you have.
What is it that's going to make us content? For he has said, I will never leave thee
nor forsake thee. What is it that's going to make you a contented person? When your focus is on the
fact that Christ is everything. When you make Christ everything. We focus on the fact that
he will never leave us. We could lose everything else. Everything else could go, but we have Christ.
You know, and when we make him the focus and pleasing him, you know, and not murmuring and
complaining against his will, we'll be a much more contented people. We'd be able to endure
a whole lot more in this life, a lot more inconveniences and trials and tribulations if
Christ was what mattered to us the most. He said, look, be content with such things as you have,
for he has said, I will never leave thee nor forsake thee so that we may boldly say,
the Lord is my help. Well, I will not fear what man shall do to me, unto me. Look at verse 15,
by him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually. When things are good,
when things are bad, when they're somewhere in between, we should be thanking God continually
because he is, you know, he's never going to leave us. He is our helper.
He's going to see us through all these things. By him, therefore, let us offer the sacrifice
of praise to God continually. That is the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to his name. That is
the sacrifice that God wants from us. You know, more than just anything else you could give God,
what he really wants more than anything is our lips giving thanks to his name.
You know, how long has it been since we thank God for all the little things that we have,
for all the things that we take for granted? You know, trust me, go home and thank God for your AC
tonight. Seriously though, thank God for all the little conveniences that we have, even thank God
for our own first world problems. Thank God that, you know, we can even, we even are advantaged to
have these problems. Thank God for all these things. Give thanks to his name. And he said
in verse 16, but do good, but to do good and communicate, forget not for with such sacrifice,
God is well pleased. So what I'm getting at tonight is that, you know, we need to be a more,
we need to make sure we're being a grateful people. You know, and if we're not, we need to
work on that. We find ourselves complaining. If we find ourselves discontent, it's probably because
we're trying to content ourselves in the wrong things. And the most, you know, the most valuable
things are intangible. They can't be held. They're not physical. They're spiritual in nature.
And, you know, we would be a more grateful people if we would stop taking everything for granted.
And not just, you know, the nice things that we have, the things that we're advantage, you know,
the advantages that we have in living in an affluent society, living in a prosperous country.
But, you know, we would be a more grateful people if we stop taking for granted the things
that we have in Christ, all the things that we have in Christ, because those are the things,
it's not going to matter what kind of a country we live in. It's not going to matter what kind
of problems we have. If we realize all that we have in Christ, you know, he'll see us through
anything. Then we what? Boldly say that the Lord is my helper. Let's go ahead and pray.