ALL I WANT FOR CHRISTMAS
CONTENTMENT
DR. JIM DIXON
1 TIMOTHY 6:6-8
DECEMBER 18, 2011
Perhaps you have noticed that home security systems do not necessarily bring a whole lot of security. They don’t necessarily make us feel safe. Maybe you have a home security system. I know Barb and I have one, and it works something like this: It is the middle of the night and you’re sound asleep. You are deep in sleep. It is dark and suddenly the security system goes off, the alarm is loud and blaring throughout the house. You wake up stunned, maybe initially disoriented, your heart is pounding in your chest and you know something is wrong. You get out of bed and the phone soon rings. It is security central and they are calling you. They say, “Is everything all right?” You say, “The alarm is going off.” They say, “Yes, that is why we called you.” You say, “Well, I don’t know whether everything is all right.” They tell you that they have read that there is some kind of breach, maybe in your basement either a window or a door, a possible entry point, or maybe on your main floor. Or maybe your motion detector has triggered something. They say, “Do you want us to call the police?” You say, “I don’t know.” They say, “Well, could you check your house out to see that everything is okay?”
So, you turn off your security system so the noise goes down. You don’t know if somebody is in your house or not. Maybe you grab a baseball bat or something. Although …rock, paper, scissors…a bat won’t necessarily win. I know when I go (this has happened a number of times) Barb kind of sneaks along behind me as we head downstairs. You have got bat in hand, you don’t know what is there, your heart is kind of pounding, and you go down in the basement and you flip on the lights. This is life in this modern age. I don’t think there is a whole lot of security there. The truth is it is impossible, in the sense of our physical life, to make life totally secure. It is impossible, in terms of our physical life, to make life totally safe. Is it possible in this sometimes-dangerous world and often stressful world to find contentment? Is that a reasonable goal?
I don’t know what you think of when you think of contentment. Maybe for you, contentment is a successful career, a successful business life. Maybe for you, contentment is a ride on your bicycle. Maybe for you, contentment is a little time with your grandchild or maybe a little time with your child. Maybe contentment, for you, has to do with recreation. Maybe it has to do with sailing the deep blue sea. I don’t know what your image of contentment is.
What we are going to do today is we are going to take a look at the biblical concept of contentment. What does it mean biblically to be content? We are going to begin by looking at what contentment is not. In terms of the teachings of scripture, we can safely say that contentment is not detachment. That is what I want to say first of all, contentment is not the same as detachment. There are certain religions in the world that teach detachment as a means to contentment. This is true in Buddhism, particularly, and somewhat in Hinduism and then in the Eastern religions in general that you can find a certain contentment through detachment.
If you were a Buddhist, you would read the Tripitika, which simply means the Three Baskets. You would read the Basket of Discipline, the Basket of Instruction, and the Basket of Higher Dharma. You would also study Zen and the way of Zen. You would hope that as you seek to follow the path of Zen that you would attain Satori, which is contentment in this life, and ultimately, Nirvana, which is eternal contentment. As you read these things you learn that it involves detaching yourself from this life and from the cares and the emotions and deep feelings in this life.
If you were Hindu, you would read the Vedas, which is a Sanskrit word which means instruction. You would read the Vedas and you would also read the poetic puranas. You would read the Ramayana. The hero of the Ramayana is Ramachandra, the seventh incarnation of Vishnu. Then you would also read the Mahabharata, which means the Great Story. Every Hindu reads these things. You would read the Gita, of course, sometimes called the Bhagavad Gita. It is a dialogue between the god Krishna and the soldier Arjuna who is going off to war and he is nervous and he is guilty because he doesn’t want to kill somebody. He is told about contentment through detachment and that he can find detachment even in the violence of war because of the concepts of reincarnation and transmigration of souls. If you realize that people come back, you don’t feel so bad about killing them. You know, it is all contentment.
You can read the code of Manu; every Hindu reads the code of Manu. Manu is a manifestation of Brahman, considered the extremely wise who codified the Hindu laws. You would practice yoga if you are an advocate of Hinduism. It wouldn’t just be western yoga, western yoga tends to focus on flexibility and relaxation, this is true eastern yoga. The word yoga in Sanskrit means union, so you are seeking union with Brahman and detachment from this world, detachment, again, from all the cares and all the emotions of this world as you seek through detachment to find contentment. I think we all can understand how there might be a little bit or a certain kind of contentment in detachment, but I hope you understand that in the Bible we are not called to detachment.
In the Bible we are called to love. The first commandment is to love, the second commandment is love, and all the commandments are summed up in love and there is no detachment in love. If you really love, you are going to experience joy and pain and there are going to be valleys and mountaintops and risk. We are called to love. The contentment we are called to is different from that eastern contentment, very different.
We do grant that there are aspects of our life where we find a little contentment through detachment. I can give you an example. Barb and I came to Colorado in 1973. I really wasn’t a Bronco fan. I had followed the Los Angeles Rams to some extent. I came here and I think John Ralston was the coach, then Red Miller then Dan Reeves and then Mike Shanahan. I saw the rise of the Broncos. I loved Denver and I really became a passionate Bronco fan. Barb would say at least a “fairly passionate” Bronco fan. I would watch the games with great emotion. It was like I was on the team, particularly as they rose in the Elway and Shanahan era to Super Bowl status and a couple of Super Bowl victories in 1997 and 1998. I would watch the game and rarely sit down; I would sometimes be standing up almost like I was in the game.
If the Broncos lost, there wasn’t a lot of contentment there. If the Broncos lost, I felt the pain, you know? Barb would always hope the Broncos would win so I would feel good. The Broncos, then, in the post-Elway era began to slip into mediocrity. In recent years they have lost a lot of games. They got to a point where they had won only seven of 31. That is a lot of losses and a lot of pain. I gradually became detached. I got to where it almost didn’t bother me. I had become detached. That is the way I coped, that is the way I blocked off the pain. The Broncos played, the Broncos lost, and life goes on.
But now, see, we are in the Tim Tebow era. We are in the Tim Tebow era and they have won seven of eight. It is kind of exciting again. They are in the race for the playoffs again. I have lost my detachment. Now there is risk and emotion, and I am even concerned about the game today. You understand how that works. There is a kind of contentment that comes with detachment. If you are attached there is not a lot of contentment sometimes.
This last week, seven of you have sent me a joke on my email, the same joke. I know this joke is going around out there like wildfire. I am going to go ahead and tell it. The joke concerns Tom Brady, who is the quarterback for the New England Patriots, who the Broncos play today, and Tom Brady is considered one of the very best quarterbacks. In this joke, Tom Brady has a horrible accident (it doesn’t sound like a joke) and finds himself at the gates of heaven. He is greeted by Christ. Jesus said, “Tom, welcome. Welcome to heaven. Tom, I have prepared a place for you and I want you to see it.” Jesus took Tom Brady and showed him this cottage and it was charming and quaint. At the front door there was a New England Patriot flag and banner. It was little faded, but it got the job done. Jesus said, “Tom, this is a pretty nice cottage. Not everyone has an eternal home as nice as this. I hope you are grateful.”
Tom said, “Lord, I am really grateful. I really appreciate this.” He began to go up the walk to the cottage and then he saw on the other hill, the next hill over, a huge mansion, three stories high. It was just beautiful and had great architecture. He noticed that the driveway that wound up to the mansion was orange and blue and he noticed that by the mansion there was this great area with this large swimming pool shaped like a bronco, the horse. He noticed on the flag there was a Bronco banner. At the door there was a Tim Tebow jersey, a big number fifteen. Tom Brady said, “Lord, I don’t mean to seem unappreciative, but I don’t understand. I am all-pro. I won three Super Bowls. I am bound for the Hall of Fame. Why would Tim Tebow have a better house than I have?” The Lord said, “Tom, Tom, you don’t understand. That is not Tim’s house, that is my house.” It does sometimes seem like that. You understand that there is a certain contentment that comes through detachment.
In the world of psychology and the world of mental health, we know that there are people who seek, through detachment, to find contentment. I majored in psychology and for a period of time I did some work as a student at Camarillo State Mental Hospital in California. I worked in the schizophrenic ward and there were people there that had just detached themselves from life and entered imaginary worlds. I don’t mean to give an overly simplistic view of schizophrenia. I know it has diverse manifestations and diverse causes, but there are some who are diagnosed as schizophrenic who just can’t handle the pain of real life and the real world. They enter imaginary worlds and talk to people who aren’t there, and they live a life that isn’t real because they can find more contentment that way. This is hard. You understand that true contentment, biblical contentment, is not through detachment.
There are some people who seek contentment through satisfaction. I also want to say that biblical contentment is not satisfaction; it is not the same as satisfaction. I know there are a lot of people who think, “If I can just get enough, I will be contented.” That is really not a biblical concept. You have all heard of the Trappists. The Trappists represent a Roman Catholic order of monks. Trappists take strict vows. Those strict vows include the vegetarian vow, where they will not eat meat. Those strict vows also include the vow of isolation, solitude, seclusion, where they will stay separated from people for much of their days, much of their life. They take vows of hard labor, where they will do hard manual labor six days a week, six hours a day, then, vows of silence. The Trappist monks are famous for the vows of silence.
There is a little story about a Trappist monk who took his vow of silence. He was told by his superior that he could speak two words a year. At the end of the first year, he came before his superior and his superior said, “Speak.” He said, “Food bad.” The superior said, “Okay.” The Trappist monk left and a year later he came back and the superior said, “Speak.” He said, “Room cold.” The superior said, “Okay.” The Trappist monk came back a year later and the superior said, “Speak.” He said, “Bed hard.” The superior said, “Okay.” A year later the Trappist monk came back and the superior said, “Speak.” He said, “I quit.” The superior said, “Well, good riddance. You have done nothing but complain since the day you got here.”
We all live in a world of complaining. We complain. Isn’t that true? Don’t you find yourself many days complaining? Don’t you from time to time catch yourself complaining? Maybe you have been greatly blessed. Maybe God has shown tremendous mercy and grace, yet here you are complaining. I think there is this delusion that if we just had enough, we wouldn’t need to complain anymore. I think we live in a world where a lot of people think that if they had enough money, if they had enough stuff, if they had enough pleasure, if they had enough comfort, if they had enough popularity or power or success, if they could just get enough, they would have satisfaction and they would be contented. It is a lie. It is a satanic lie. Money, sex and power are ultimately vacuous. They don’t lead to true contentment in life.
There is a song that in my generation was very famous by the Rolling StonesMick Jagger sang those words, “I can’t get no satisfaction.” We used to drive around in our cars and that beat was just pounding as you drove around in your car. “Just can’t get no satisfaction.” You knew it was true, yet the whole world was after satisfaction. Mick Jagger tried money, sex, and power to the point of debauchery. He was sated and still not satisfied. No contentment because at bottom, the core truth is, contentment is spiritual and it is tied to the kingdom of God.
In our passage of Scripture for today, in 1 Timothy 6:6 it says, “there is great gain in Godliness with contentment.” This word “autarkeia,” is the word for contentment, which in the Bible refers to an inner peace that transcends the circumstances or situations. “Autarkeia.” It is tied to godliness, “eusebeia.” It is a spiritual concept very much related to the kingdom of God. It is the kingdom of God, it is the kingdom of Christ, and it is the kingdom of heaven that offers contentment. It does it in a number of ways. It does it through the forgiveness of sins. There can be no contentment apart from the forgiveness of sins. True contentment is spiritual, and it is profoundly deep and it has to do with knowing your sins are forever forgiven and that is a contentment that the world longs for.
Just this last week I woke up in the middle of the night and I was in my mind just humming this chorus that I had learned when I was a kid in church. I had not sung it in 45 or 50 years. I hadn’t even thought of this chorus in 45 or 50 years and here I woke up and it was playing in my mind. When I got up that morning the tune was still right there. It was, “Gone, gone, gone, gone, yes my sins are gone. Now my soul is free and in my heart’s a song. Buried in the deepest sea, yes, that is good enough for me. I shall live eternally. Praise God my sins are G-O-N-E, gone.” Kind of a cheesy song. There were a lot of songs, choruses, like that when I was a kid.
Tell me, how many of you have ever sung that song? Quite a few of you. You are probably not really young. I got out of bed and I was heading to the shower and I started singing this song and then Barb is in bed and I hear her start singing it with me. She hadn’t sung it in 45 or 50 years either. Sometimes we laugh because it was like we were raised in the same bubble. The words of the song are so true. “My sins are gone, buried in the deepest sea. My soul has been set free and my heart is a song.” Only a Christian can understand the truth of that. Only if you have come to the foot of the cross and if you have accepted Jesus Christ as your savior and your sins have been forgiven by his blood, only then can you understand the truth of that and the contentment that comes when knowing that all of your sins, past, present, future are forever forgiven by the blood of Jesus as you have embraced him as your Savior and Lord. What an amazing peace. As you come to communion, we thank God for that.
I think also the kingdom of Christ offers contentment through the promise of heaven and the knowledge that your ticket to heaven has been punched and your future is secure and you are bound for heaven. What an amazing promise! Even in the valley of the shadow of death, that promise is there. There is a contentment, a peace that passes all understanding, that you see only comes from Christ. The world cannot understand, not ever. I think too, there is a contentment that comes not just from sins forgiven and from the promise of heaven, but a contentment that comes from serving the kingdom of heaven, the cause of Christ. We find contentment, not just because he has given us victory over sin and victory over death, but we find contentment in his cause.
I look at the Apostle Paul, he is at the end of his life and he knows he is incarcerated and he is in Rome and he knows that Nero is the emperor and he is on the throne and he hates Christians. Paul knows that his death is soon. Indeed, he soon would be beheaded on the Ostian Way outside the city of Rome. But he had contentment even through that moment and it was a life of service to the cause of heaven. He said, “I have fought the good fight. I have finished the race. I have kept the faith. There is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day and not only to me but to all who have loved him, to all who have loved his appearing.” That contentment comes from serving Christ, from fighting the good fight, which is the cause of heaven, and for doing it for as long as you draw breath, finishing the race and keeping the faith once and for all delivered to the saints. Orthodoxy and orthopraxy. Doctrine, behavior. You know you are sinner; you know you are in desperate need of his grace, but you are in the fight and you are engaged and there is a contentment that comes from that.
I am in the ministry and you might think, “Jim, you are paid to be good.” I understand that. I hope you understand that no matter what your call in life, whether you are in the business sector, out in the corporate world, we are all called to serve him and we find our contentment in the service of the cause of heaven.
I am blessed to have my brothers living here in Denver. I am so blessed to have my brothers as members of this church. You don’t know what a grace towards me that is. They grew up with me, they know what a jerk I am and here they are members of the church. It is so cool. My brother Gary was in the banking industry and he was a vice president for Glendale Federal Savings and Loan, but he knew that he would find meaning and contentment and joy in the service of the cause of heaven. He served as an elder at our church in California. He served in so many different ways at that church. He still serves Christ here now and is involved in the ministry of Project Cure, which takes medical supplies to the impoverished peoples of the world. There is a contentment that comes in serving the cause of Christ.
My brother Greg worked in human resources at Lockheed Martin and at Gates Rubber Company and at J.D. Edwards in the Tech Center, and had a great career in human resources. But he has always found contentment through the cause of Christ and the service of Christ. Greg, too, has served as an elder and has served in so many capacities. Now he works with Global Connection and Jim Gruen and he works with the training of indigenous leaders in the churches of Central America. He travels down there all the time. The joy and the contentment of serving the cause of Christ!
I say to you, it doesn’t matter what your career is, get involved where you work, serve the cause of heaven where you are. There are people all around you that are in desperate need of a touch of heaven. There are so many ways to serve the Church of Jesus Christ and we invite you all of the time to do that. But contentment is spiritual, and it is tied to the kingdom of Christ. It comes from the knowledge of sins forgiven. It comes from the promise of heaven. It comes from the great cause that we have been given that we pour our lives into, the cause of Christ himself. Let’s look to the Lord with a word of prayer before we come to the table today.