A Colony Of The King - The Abundance of Enough [Ryan Ashley]

Philippians 4:10-13, Matthew 6:24, Proverbs 30:7-9

1. Contentment is Something We Learn

2. Contentment is Not Dependent on Our Circumstances

When I get __________ then I will be content and happy.

3. Contentment is a Struggle in Times of Want or in Plenty

Matthew 6:24

“No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Mammon.” 

“Mammon means possessions or property. Today we might legitimately translate Mammon as things, money, gain, or success. The god Mammon is left with its pagan name in the Greek text and in most translations in order to remind readers that Mammon is a spiritual force who works with tremendous attracting power to draw us into its orbit and out from under the service of Christ.”

Dale Bruner

“For untradeable things that cannot be exchanged (such as friendship), there is no way to trade them or swap them (you cannot buy a true friend or inner peace). But you can buy things that seem to be around it: proxies. You can buy a dinner in a restaurant for your friends, but there is no way you can buy true friends by doing so; or you can buy a cabin in the mountains and try to find peace there, but you cannot buy peace itself. Ultimately, advertising functions on this principle: They show you something that cannot be traded (a happy family at breakfast, an escape, or beauty) and offer you a tradable proxy (some kind of breakfast cereal, a mountain cabin, or shampoo). And even though we know this is an illusion and that actors and extras play in ads, we still start to desire a better pillow (mine is responsible for my troubled sleep), new yogurts and cereals (the happy family at breakfast), and shampoo (even if the model in the ad has probably never used the particular brand).”

Tomas Sedlacek; Economics of Good and Evil

Son of Agor Proverbs 30:7-9
“Two things I ask of you, Lord;
do not refuse me before I die:
Keep falsehood and lies far from me;
give me neither poverty nor riches,
but give me only my daily bread.
Otherwise, I may have too much and disown you and say, ‘Who is the Lord? ’
Or I may become poor and steal,
and so dishonor the name of my God.”

“He is richest who is content with the least for contentment is the wealth of nature.”

Socrates

“The happy man is content with his present lot, no matter what it is, and is reconciled to his circumstances.”

Seneca