Sermon 6
PHILIPPIANS. 4.11. For I have learned in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.
I shall only add one lesson more in the learning of Contentment, and then I shall come to the Fourth Head, The excellency of Contentment.
The Ninth and last lesson that Christ teaches those that he doth instruct in this Art of Contentment, It is the right knowledge of God's providence, and therein are these four things.
1 The universality of providence, that the Soul must be thoroughly instructed in to come to this Art, to understand the universality of providence, that is; how the providence of God goes through the whole world, extends itself to everything: Not only that God by his providence doth rule the world, and govern all things in general, but that it reaches to every particular, not only to Kingdoms, to order the great affairs of Kingdoms, but it reaches to every man's family, it reaches to every person in the family, it reaches to every condition, yea to every passage, to everything that falls out concerning you in every particular, not one hair falls from your head, not a Sparrow to the ground without the providence of God. There is nothing befalls you good or evil, but there is a providence of the infinite eternal First-Being in that thing, and therein indeed is God's infiniteness, that it reaches to the least things, to the least worm that is under your feet: Then much more it reaches unto you that are a rational creature, the providence of God is more special towards rational creatures than any others: The understanding in a spiritual way the universality of providence in every particular passage from morning to night every day; that there is not anything that does befall you but there is a hand of God in it, it is from God, it is a mighty furtherance to Contentment. Every man will grant the truth of the thing that it is so, but as the Apostle says in Hebrews 11:3. By faith we understand that the worlds were made, by faith we understand it: why by faith? We can understand by reason that no finite thing can be from itself, And therefore that the world could not be of itself, but we can understand it by faith in another manner than by reason. So whatsoever we understand of God in way of providence, yet when Christ doth take us into his School we come to understand it by faith in a better manner than we do by reason.
2 The efficacy that there is in providence; that is, That the providence of God goes on in all things with strength and power, and it is not to be altered by our power; let us be discontented and vexed and troubled, and fret, and rage, yet we must not think to alter the course of providence by our discontent. Some of Job's friends said to him, Shall the earth be forsaken for you, and shall the rock be removed out of his place? Job 18:4. when they saw him to be impatient. So I may say to every discontented impatient heart, what shall the providence of God change its course for you? Do you think it such a weak thing that because it does not please you it must alter its course? Be content or not content, the providence of God will go on, it has an efficacy of power, of virtue, to carry all things before it: Can you make one hair black or white with all the stir that you keep? When you are in a ship at Sea that has all her sails spread with a full gale of wind, and swiftly sailing; can you make it stand still with running up and down in the ship? No more can you make the providence of God to alter and change its course with your vexing and fretting, but it will go on with power do what you can. Do but understand the power and efficacy of providence and it will be a mighty means for the helping to learn this lesson of Contentment.
3 The infinite variety of the works of providence, and yet the order of things, one working towards another; there is infinite variety of the works of God in an ordinary providence, and yet all work in an ordinary way; we put these two together; for God in the way of his providence causes a thousand thousand things one to depend upon another, there are infinite several wheels (as I may so say) in the works of providence, all the works that ever God did from all eternity or ever will do, put them all together, and all make up but one work, and they have been as several wheels that have had their orderly motion to attain the end that God from all eternity hath appointed: We indeed look at things by pieces, we look at one particular and do not consider the reference that one thing has to another, but God he looks at all things at once, and sees the reference that one thing has to another: As a child that looks upon a clock, looks first upon one wheel, and then upon another wheel, he looks not at all together or the dependence that one has upon another, but the workman has his eyes upon all together and sees the dependence of all one upon another, and the art that there is in the dependence of one upon another; so it is in God's providence. Now observe how this works to Contentment; where there is such a passage of providence befalls me, that is one wheel, and it may be if this wheel should be stopped, there might a thousand other wheels come to be stopped by this: as in a clock, stop but one wheel and you stop every wheel, because they have dependence one upon another: so when God hath ordered a thing for the present to be thus and thus, how do you know how many things do depend upon this thing? God may have some work that he hath to do twenty years hence that may depend upon this passage of providence, that falls out this day, or this week. And here (by the way) we may see a great deal of evil that there is in discontent, for you would have God's providence altered in such and such a particular, indeed if it were only in that particular, and that had reference to nothing else it were not so much, but by your desire to have your will in such a particular, it may be you would cross God in a thousand things that he hath to bring about, because it is possible there may be a thousand things depend upon that one thing that you would gladly have to be otherwise than it is, just as if a child should cry out and say, let but that one wheel stop, though he says but one wheel, yet if that stop, it is as much as if he should say they must all stop; so in providence, let but this one passage of providence stop, it is as much as if a thousand stopped: Let me therefore be quiet and content, for though I be crossed in some one particular God attains his end, at least his end may be furthered in a thousand things by this one thing that I am crossed in; therefore let a man consider this is an act of providence, and how do I know what God is about to do, and how many things depend upon this providence? Now we are willing to suffer our friend's will to be crossed in one thing, so that our friend may attain to what he desires in a thousand things; if you have a love and friendship to God, be willing to be crossed in some few things, that the Lord may have his work go on in the universal, in a thousand of other things. Now that is the third thing to be understood in God's providence, that Christ doth learn those that he teacheth in the Art of Contentment.
4 Christ teaches them the knowledge of providence, that is, The knowledge of God's usual way in his dealings with his people more particularly. The other is, the knowledge of God in his providence in general: But the right understanding of the way of God in his providence towards his people and Saints, is a notable lesson to help us in the Art of Contentment. If we come once to know a man's way and course we may better suit and be contented to live with him, than before we come to know his way and course: as when a man comes to live in a society with men and women, it may be the men and women may be good, but till a man comes to know their way and course and disposition, many things may fall very cross, and we think they are very hard, but when we come to be acquainted with their way and spirit, then we can suit and cotton with them very well; and the reason of our trouble is, because we do not understand their way. So it is with you, those that are but as strangers to God, and do not understand the way of God, they are troubled with the providences of God, and they think them very strange and cannot tell what to make of them, because they understand not the ordinary course and way of God towards his people. If a stranger sometimes comes into a family and sees such and such things done, he wonders what the matter is, but those that are acquainted with it, it troubles them not at all. So servants, when they come first together and know not one another, it may be they are froward and discontented, but when they come to be acquainted with one another's ways, then they are more contented: just so it is when we come first to understand God's ways.
Objection. But you will say, What do you understand by God's ways?
Answer: By that I mean these three things. And when we come to know them we shall not wonder so much at the providence of God, but be quiet and contented with them.
1. The First thing is this, God's ordinary course is, that his people in this world should be in an afflicted condition: God hath revealed in his Word, and we may there find he hath set down to be his ordinary way even from the beginning of the world to this day, (but more especially in the times of the Gospel,) that his people here should be in an afflicted condition. Now men that do not understand this, they stand and wonder to hear of the people of God that they are afflicted, and the enemies prosper in their way; for those that seek God in his way, and seek for Reformation, for them to be afflicted and routed and spoiled, and the enemies to prevail, they wonder at it: but now, one that is in the School of Christ, he is taught by Jesus Christ that God by his eternal Counsels hath set this to be his course and way, to bring up his people in this world in an afflicted condition, and therefore says the Apostle, Account it not strange concerning the fiery trial. 1 Peter 4:12. We are not therefore to be discontented with it seeing God hath set such a course and way, and we know such is the will of God that it should be so.
The second thing that is in God's way is this: Usually when God intends the greatest mercy to any of his people, he does bring them into the lowest condition. God does seem to go quite cross and work in a contrary way. When he intends the greatest mercies to his people, he does first usually bring them into very low conditions. If it be a bodily mercy, an outward mercy that he intends to bestow, he uses to bring them bodily low and outwardly low. If it be a mercy in their estates that he intends to bestow, he brings them low in that and then raises them; and in their names he brings them low there, and then raises them; and in their spirits God does ordinarily bring their spirits low and then raises their spirits. Usually the people of God before the greatest comforts have the greatest afflictions and sorrows. Now those that understand not God's ways, they think that when God brings his people into sad conditions, that God leaves and forsakes them, and that God does intend no great matter of good to them. But now a child of God that is instructed in this way of God, he is not troubled. "My condition is very low," but (says he) "this is God's way when he intends the greatest mercy, to bring men under the greatest afflictions." When he intended to raise Joseph to be the second in the kingdom, God cast him into a dungeon a little before. So when God intended to raise David and set him upon the throne, he made him to be hunted as a partridge in the mountain, 2 Samuel 26:20. God went this way with his Son; Christ himself went into glory by suffering, Hebrews 2:20. And if God deal so with his own Son, much more with his people. As a little before break of day you shall observe it is darker than it was any time before, so God does use to make our conditions darker a little before the mercy comes. When God bestowed the last great mercy at Naseby, we were in a very low condition. God knew what he had to do beforehand; he knew that his time was coming for great mercies. It is the way of God to do so. Be but instructed rightly in this course and track that God uses to walk in, and that will help us to contentment exceedingly.
The third thing that there is in God's way and course is this: It is the way of God to work by contraries, to turn the greatest evil into the greatest good. To grant great good after great evil is one thing, and to turn great evils into the greatest good, that is another. And yet that is God's way; the greatest good that God intends for his people, many times he works it out of the greatest evil. The greatest light is brought out of the greatest darkness. And Luther (I remember) has a notable expression for this. Says he: "It is the way of God: he does humble that he might exalt; he does kill that he might make alive; he does confound that he might glorify." This is the way of God (says he). But says he: "Everyone does not understand this." "This is the Art of Arts, and the Science of Sciences, the knowledge of knowledges to understand this: that God does use when he will bring life, he does bring it out of death; he brings joy out of sorrow, and he brings prosperity out of adversity." Yea, and many times he brings grace out of sin; that is, makes use of sin to work furtherance of grace. It is the way of God to bring good out of evil; not only to overcome the evil, but to make the evil to work towards the good. Here is the way of God. Now when the soul comes to understand this, it will take away our murmuring and bring contentment into our spirits. But I fear there are but few that understand it rightly. Perhaps they read of such things, and hear such things in a sermon, but they are not by Jesus Christ instructed in this: that this is the way of God, to bring the greatest good out of the greatest evil.
Philippians 4:11: "For I have learned, in whatever state I am, to be content."
I have one more lesson to add on learning contentment, and then I will move to the fourth main topic: the excellence of contentment.
The ninth and final lesson Christ teaches those He instructs in the art of contentment is the right knowledge of God's providence, and it contains four elements.
The first is the universality of providence — the soul must be thoroughly grounded in this to master the art of contentment. God's providence does not merely rule the world in a general sense; it reaches into every particular. It extends not only to kingdoms and their great affairs, but to every family, every person within that family, every condition, every event — everything that touches your life. Not one hair falls from your head, not one sparrow falls to the ground, apart from the providence of God. Nothing happens to you — good or evil — without the involvement of the infinite, eternal, first-being God. This is where God's infiniteness shows itself: His care reaches down to the smallest worm beneath your feet. How much more, then, does it reach to you as a rational creature — for God's providence is more specifically directed toward rational creatures than toward anything else. Understanding in a spiritual way the universality of providence — that from morning to night, every day, nothing befalls you apart from God's hand — is a powerful help toward contentment. Everyone will grant the truth of this in principle, but as the apostle says in Hebrews 11:3, "By faith we understand that the worlds were formed" — by faith, not merely by reason. Reason can tell us that no finite thing can be self-originating, and therefore the world could not have made itself. But when Christ brings us into His school, we come to understand providence by faith in a way that goes far deeper than reason ever could.
The second element is the efficacy of providence — the fact that God's providence moves forward in all things with strength and power, and our discontent cannot alter it. We may be discontented, vexed, troubled, fretting, raging — but we cannot change the course of providence by any of it. When Job's friends saw his impatience, one of them asked him: "Will the earth be forsaken for your sake? Or will the rock be moved from its place?" (Job 18:4). I would say the same to every discontented and impatient heart: do you think God's providence will change its course for you? Do you imagine it is so weak that it must bend to your preferences? Whether you are content or not, providence will move forward — it carries all things before it with irresistible power. Can you turn one hair black or white with all your fretting? Imagine a ship under full sail with a strong wind, moving swiftly forward — can you stop it by running back and forth on the deck? No more can your vexing and fretting alter the course of God's providence. Understand the power and efficacy of providence, and it will be a great help in learning contentment.
The third element is the infinite variety of God's works in providence, and yet the orderly way in which each work connects to every other. In the ordinary workings of His providence, God causes an immense number of things to depend on one another. There are, in a sense, countless wheels in the mechanism of providence — and every work God has ever done, or ever will do from eternity to eternity, together forms one single unified work. All these works are like wheels that have moved in orderly sequence toward the end God appointed from eternity. We, however, look at things in fragments — we notice one particular event and fail to see how it connects to everything else. God sees all things at once, and He sees exactly how each thing relates to every other. Think of a child looking at a clock: he looks at one wheel, then another, never seeing them all together or understanding how they depend on each other. But the craftsman who built it sees all the wheels at once — he understands the relationship between them and the artistry in how they work together. So it is with God's providence. Consider how this leads to contentment: a particular event in your life is one wheel, and if that wheel were stopped, a thousand other wheels might stop with it. Stop one wheel in a clock and you stop every wheel, because they all depend on each other. So when God has ordered something to be a certain way right now, how do you know how many other things depend on that one thing? God may have a work to accomplish twenty years from now that depends entirely on this one event happening today or this week. This also shows us how much harm discontent does: you want God to alter His providence in some particular — but if that one thing were changed, you might be crossing God in a thousand other things He intends to bring about. It is possible that a thousand things depend on the very thing you wish were different — just as a child who asks for one wheel to stop is, without realizing it, asking for all the wheels to stop. Let me therefore be quiet and content, for though I am crossed in one thing, God is still accomplishing His purposes — and He may be furthering a thousand other ends through the very thing that crosses me. Consider: this is an act of providence, and I do not know what God is working toward, or how many things depend on this one event. We are willing to let a friend be disappointed in one thing if it means that friend achieves what he desires in a thousand others. If you love God, be willing to be crossed in some things so that His work may go forward in countless others. That is the third aspect of God's providence which Christ teaches those He is instructing in the art of contentment.
The fourth element Christ teaches is the knowledge of God's usual ways in His dealings with His people more particularly. The previous three points concern God's providence in general; this one concerns the specific pattern of how God deals with His people and saints — and understanding this pattern is a remarkable help toward contentment. Once we come to know a person's habits and ways, we can live with them far more peacefully than before we understood them. When someone joins a household for the first time, the people there may be good — but until he learns their ways and temperament, many things will seem strange or difficult. Once he becomes familiar with how they think and act, he can fit in with them quite comfortably. The trouble came simply from not understanding their ways. It is the same with God. Those who are strangers to God and do not understand His ways are troubled by His providences — they find them strange and cannot make sense of them, because they have not learned God's ordinary patterns toward His people. A stranger entering a household may be puzzled by what he sees, while those who live there are not troubled at all. Servants who are new to each other may be prickly and unsettled at first, but once they learn each other's ways, contentment grows. It is just the same when we first begin to understand God's ways.
Objection: But what do you mean by God's ways?
Answer: By that I mean these three things. When we come to know them, we will not be so puzzled by God's providence, but will be quiet and content with it.
The first is this: God's ordinary pattern is that His people in this world live in an afflicted condition. God has revealed in His Word — and we can see it as His established way from the very beginning of the world down to our own day, especially in gospel times — that His people here should expect affliction. Those who do not understand this are startled when they see God's people suffering while their enemies prosper. When those who seek God and pursue reformation are routed and stripped bare while enemies gain the upper hand, it seems incomprehensible. But one who has been taught in Christ's school knows that God by His eternal counsel has set this as His course: to bring up His people in this world through affliction. Therefore the apostle says: "Do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you" (1 Peter 4:12). Since God has established this as His way and we know it is His will, we have no reason to be discontented with it.
The second thing in God's way is this: when God intends the greatest mercy for His people, He usually brings them into the lowest condition first. God often appears to work in the opposite direction — moving contrary to what we expect. When He plans the greatest mercy, He first brings people very low. If He intends an outward, bodily blessing, He first allows them to sink low in body and circumstances. If He plans to bless their estate, He first lets it fall, then raises it. If their reputation is involved, He lets it suffer before He restores it. In their spirits as well, God ordinarily brings people low before He lifts them up. His people's greatest comforts are usually preceded by their greatest afflictions and sorrows. Those who do not understand this pattern think that when God brings His people into hard circumstances, He has abandoned them or has no great good in mind for them. But a child of God who has been taught God's ways is not troubled. He says: "My condition is very low — but this is God's way when He intends the greatest mercy: to bring people through the deepest affliction first." When God intended to raise Joseph to be second in the kingdom, He first cast him into a dungeon. When God intended to set David on the throne, He let him be hunted like a partridge in the mountains (1 Samuel 26:20). God followed this same path with His own Son — Christ entered glory through suffering (Hebrews 2:10). If God dealt this way with His own Son, how much more will He deal this way with His people. Just as the darkest moment of the night comes just before dawn, so God often makes our condition darkest just before the mercy arrives. When God gave the great mercy at Naseby, we were in a very low condition beforehand. God knew what He was going to do; He knew His time for great mercy was coming. This is His way. Be rightly instructed in this course that God walks, and it will help you toward contentment enormously.
The third thing in God's way is this: it is His pattern to work by contraries — to turn the greatest evil into the greatest good. Granting great good after great evil is one thing, but actually turning the evil itself into good is something else entirely. Yet that is God's way: the greatest good He intends for His people is often worked out of the greatest evil. The greatest light is brought out of the greatest darkness. Luther expressed this memorably: "This is the way of God — He humbles in order to exalt; He kills in order to make alive; He confounds in order to glorify." But, he added, not everyone understands this. "This is the art of arts, the science of sciences, the knowledge of knowledges," he said — to understand that when God wills to bring life, He brings it out of death; He brings joy out of sorrow and prosperity out of adversity. Indeed, He often brings grace out of sin — making use of even sin to further the growth of grace. It is God's way not only to overcome evil, but to make the evil itself serve the good. This is God's way. When the soul comes to understand this, it takes away our murmuring and brings contentment into our spirits. But I fear few people truly understand it. They may read about it or hear it in a sermon, but they have not been taught by Jesus Christ to receive it as a living truth — that this is God's way: to bring the greatest good out of the greatest evil.
