More about contentment

The Apostle Paul had some things to say about contentment...

I rejoice greatly in the Lord that at last you have renewed your concern for me. Indeed, you have been concerned, but you had no opportunity to show it. I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. 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.

Philippians 4:10-13

In this passage, Paul is thanking the Philippians for gifts they had given him. He was not trying to get them to give him more gifts.

Discussion questions

• Twice in this passage, Paul says "I have learned..." Do you think that contentment comes naturally?
• Have you ever felt that you were "in need" or that you had "plenty?" What does that mean?
• Have you ever felt "well fed" or hungry? What does that mean?
• Paul knew how to be content in all of these circumstances. Do you think you could be content too?
• What was the secret of Paul's contentment?

Let's look at a little more of what Paul said about contentment...

But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that.

1 Timothy 6:8

And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.

2 Corinthians 9:8

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 "

Hebrews 13:5

I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has given me strength, that he considered me faithful, appointing me to his service.

1 Timothy 1:12

Contentment

Contentment. What is contentment? The dictionary defines it as being "the quality or state of being contented." Well, what does contented mean? The dictionary defines it as "feeling or showing satisfaction with one's possessions, status, or situation."

Have we read anything in the Bible yet about contentment? Actually we have...

We've read some about being satisfied with our possessions.

"You shall not covet your neighbor's house. You shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or his manservant or maidservant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor."

Exodus 20:17

That's one of the Ten Commandments. If God tells us not to want what our neighbors have, doesn't that imply that we should be satisified with what we have?

What about being satisfied with our status (position or rank in relation to others)? Well, we've seen that a couple of places already...

And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'

Matthew 22:39

If we love our neighbor as ourself, we think of them as being as important as we are - not more or less important than we are. Also when we read about the Fruit of the Spirit, several of the fruit (peace, kindness, goodness, gentleness) deal with how we relate to others or our status in the eyes of others.

Have we read anything about being contented or satisfied in our situation?

All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one
of them came to be.

Psalm 139:16b

If God has ordained all the days of our lives and we know He loves us and has a plan for us, why shouldn't we be satisfied with our situation?

So, we've already learned a little bit about why we should be contented. As we continue, we'll learn more about it.

Godly character (the fruit of the Spirit)

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.

Galatians 5:22-23

Galatians 5:22-23 talks about "the fruit of the Spirit" which are character traits that are evidence of Godly character. If we are following God, we will see these character traits grow in us.

• Love - unconditional love, the love that God has towards us
• Joy - delight, gladness
• Peace - good relationships between people, friendliness, no fighting, sense of rest and contentment
• Patience - to be able to endure hard or bad things over time
• Kindness - treating others fairly
• Goodness - being good and doing good to others
• Faithfulness - being dependable and trustworthy
• Gentleness - accepting how God deals with us and not being argumentative
• Self-control - using what God gave you responsibly

All of these things are good things for us to have in our lives.

Discussion questions

• Do you understand what each of these means?
• Which of these describe you?
• Which would you like to have describe you?

Psalm 1

Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers.

But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night.

He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers.

Not so the wicked! They are like chaff that the wind blows away. Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.

For the LORD watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.

Psalm 1

Discussion questions

• Verse 1 talks about being "blessed." What does it mean to be blessed?
• What does the blessed man in Psalm 1 delight in? What is that?
• Do you read God's Word every day?
• The blessed man knows that God's Word helps him grow. Does God's Word help you grow? How?
• Who are the "wicked"? Does God's Word help them grow?
• Do you like it that God watches over you

The Ten Commandments (continued, again)

The last six commandments talk about our duty to other people. When Jesus summarized the ten commandments in two, the second one was

And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'

Matthew 22:39

Discussion questions

• What does it mean to love your neighbor as yourself?
• What are some ways we can love our neighbor?

Now let's look at the last six commandments.

"Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land
the LORD your God is giving you.

"You shall not murder.

"You shall not commit adultery.

"You shall not steal.

"You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.

"You shall not covet your neighbor's house. You shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or his manservant or maidservant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor."

Discussion questions

• These six commandments show us how to love our neighbors and our fellow man. Who is mentioned first?
• Why do you think your father and mother are mentioned first?
• What does it mean to murder?
• In Matthew chapter 5, Jesus even compares not being angry with someone to the commandment not to murder. Do you find it hard to not to be angry with those around you?
• What does it mean to commit adultery?
• What does it mean to steal?
• Do you ever have problems with taking things that aren't yours?
• What does it mean to give false testimony?
• Do you ever have problems telling things that are not true?
• What does it mean to covet?
• Do you ever want something that belongs to someone else?

The Ten Commandments (continued)

The first four commandments talk about our duty to God. This is much like when we read yesterday how Jesus summarized the ten commandments into just two. The first of these was

Jesus replied: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.'

Matthew 22:37

Do you recall some of the ways you said you could love God?

Let's look at these first four commandments...

"You shall have no other gods before me.

"You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing love to a thousand {generations} of those who love me and keep my commandments.

"You shall not misuse the name of the LORD your God, for the LORD will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name.

"Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates. For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

Exodus 20:2-11

Discussion questions

• What does it mean to not have any other gods?
• Can you think of anything that you sometimes love more than you love God?
• If God is a jealous God, what should you do?
• What are some things in your life that God might be jealous of?
• How do people misuse God's name?
• When are acceptable times to use God's name? (When talking to Him or talking about Him)
• What do Christians celebrate as the Sabbath day?
• What are things we can do to keep the Sabbath day holy?
• What are things we shouldn't do on the Sabbath day?

The Ten Commandments

The Ten Commandments are the rules that God gave to His people through Moses on Mount Sinai. The Ten Commandments aren't all of the laws (rules) that God had for His people, but they form the basis for all of God's laws. But, Jesus simplified things even more, summarizing all of the law into just two!

"Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?" Jesus replied: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."

Matthew 22:36-40

The Ten Commandments neatly fit into the two commandments that Jesus told of. The first set of commandments deal with how we are to love God and the second set deal with how we are to love others.

• Why do you think the command to love God is first?
• What does it mean to love God with all your heart, soul, and mind?
• What are some ways you can love God?
• What does it mean to love your neighbor as yourself?
• How can we love our neighbor?

Let's read the Ten Commandments now. We'll start looking at them in depth later...

And God spoke all these words: "I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.

"You shall have no other gods before me.

"You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing love to a thousand {generations} of those who love me and keep my commandments.

"You shall not misuse the name of the LORD your God, for the LORD will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name.

"Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates. For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

"Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the LORD your God is giving you.

"You shall not murder.

"You shall not commit adultery.

"You shall not steal.

"You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.

"You shall not covet your neighbor's house. You shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or his manservant or maidservant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor."

Exodus 20:1-17

Each of us must receive Jesus as our Lord and Savior

Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God

John 1:12

• How do we receive Jesus?
• Believe in Him!
• Do our good works do anything?

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.

Ephesians 2:8-9

• What does it mean to have faith?
• Faith is belief and trust in and loyalty to God
• How do we know we can trust God? (He has a plan for us, nothing can separate us from His love...)
• Our faith is a gift from God. Remember how we learned about the wages of sin? Let's look at the rest of that verse...

For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 6:23

• Eternal life is a gift from God!
• What is eternal life? (living in Heaven forever with God)
• What else do we remember about eternal life? (Remember John 3:16)

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

John 3:16

• By faith - which is a gift from God - we can believe in Jesus and when we believe in Jesus, we have eternal life - which is a gift from God!
• Do you like getting gifts?

Summary questions

• Do you know that God loves you?
• How do you know God loves you?
• Do you know that you are a sinner?
• Do you know that Jesus died for your sin?
• Do you know that Jesus is the ONLY way to God?
• Do you personally believe in Jesus - trust in Jesus - as your Lord and Savior?

God sent Jesus to die for us

But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Romans 5:8

• Did Jesus die for us because we were good or bad?
• We earned death (remember Romans 6:23?) but Jesus died for us.
• So then, Jesus took our punishment, right?
• After Jesus died, what happened to Him?

...Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Peter, and then to the twelve. After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time, most of whom are still living...

1 Corinthians 15:3-6

• Jesus rose from the dead. Death did not stop Him!
• So, if Jesus died for our sin and our sin is what separated us from God, we don't need to be separated from God anymore!
• Is Jesus the only one who can get us to God?

Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."

John 14:6

• So Jesus is the only way to God. Is that all we need to know?

We're sinners separated from God

For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

Romans 3:23

• Who has sinned?
• What is sin?
• What is the result of sin?
• Have you ever sinned?

If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.

1 John 1:8

OK, we are all sinners. Where does that get us?

For the wages of sin is death,

Romans 6:23a

• Wages are what we earn
• If we sin, we earn death not eternal life
• Do you remember what happened to Adam and Eve when they sinned?

So the LORD God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken. After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life.

Genesis 3:23-24

• Because of their sin, Adam and Eve got kicked out of the Garden of Eden
• Before they got kicked out Adam and Eve walked and talked with God
• Because of their sin, they were separated from God.

But there is some good news...

God loves you

This was the first of our family Bible studies. I'll go ahead and post the ones we've already done, but once I've taken care of the backlog, I'll only be posting the new ones.

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

John 3:16

• Who is God?
• Who is "the world?"
• How did God show His love to us?
• What is the reward of believing in God's son?

All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.

Psalm 139:16b

ordain means to establish or order by appointment, decree, or law

• What has God ordained?
• If God ordained all of our days, does that mean He has a plan for us?
• If God has a plan, do you think it is a good plan?

For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 8:38-39

• Can any thing separate us from God's love?
• If nothing can separate us from God's love, do you think you can trust God?
• If God has a plan for you, do you think that you can trust God?

Unfortunately though no thing can separate us from God's love, something does separate us from God. We'll find more out about that in the next Bible study...