A Visit with the Joneses

Carol Jones Saint: Hello, hello there, and it is a special joy for us to throw open the living room door and invite you to come in and share this time of family devotions with all of us at home sweet home. Say, have you been learning anything from the Lord through Scripture, through prayer? Have you learned anything new today?

As we read the writings of the Apostle Paul, he was always learning, and he would pass on things that he learned to those that he worked with. When he was a new Christian, he was learning, and whenever he became an old man, he was learning. Well, in Romans 8:28, we see one of the wonderful lessons that Paul had learned. We all know the Scripture, it's very familiar.

In this devotional time, which is part two of the series on contentment, Bert had set the words of Romans 8:28 to music. And as we join the devotional, which had been prepared by Bert, part two in the series, the trio is singing his little chorus set to Romans 8:28.

What a ground of Christian faith when we learn that lesson.

Guest (Male): As someone over there in that chair is saying, "Why, I never heard that favorite portion of Scripture set to music. Where did the music come from?"

Carol Jones Saint: Well, the music came from our own Reverend Bert Jones. And Bert, I think you did a tremendous job there of combining the affirmative faith of that verse with the music. Let's sing it again.

As an old man nearing death, living in a rat-infested prison where he was chained, the Apostle Paul wrote words which we find in Philippians 4:11: "For I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content."

Notice here the study, "I have learned." The Apostle Paul was always in the study. He was always learning. "I have learned." And what did he learn? "I have learned in whatsoever state I am therewith to be content." You will remember that in our last radio visit, we were thinking a great deal about this as we had family devotions together.

This attitude of being able to be content, it did not come all at once. It was not his on the day of his salvation or the day he said, "The Lord has filled me with His Holy Spirit, I've been sanctified wholly." But rather, it came through patient study, through steady growth, through daily practice, through a continuing maturity which caused him to say, "I have learned."

I hope all of you will remember that a disciple is a learner. That's the definition of the word disciple. A disciple is a learner. Always a disciple and always a learner. You do not know it all. There are always lessons to learn. This indicates that even the Christian has a part to play personally in trying to learn the lessons and in trying to learn to be content.

Ruth: It's sort of like when the new baby is at your house, you're so thrilled when he begins to crawl, but he's not ready yet to drive the car. So you just have to keep taking it in stages and learning and ever learning.

Carol Jones Saint: That's right. This verse of Scripture indicates to me that as a mature Christian, the Apostle Paul may have known a contentment which perhaps he did not have in the earlier days of his ministry or his walk with the Lord.

"I have learned." I didn't know it from the beginning, but now, "I have learned in whatsoever state I am therewith to be content." Part of learning may involve knowing when this contentment involves a blind acceptance and when it involves active participation in working for a change. All of that is part of learning, which is which.

As we say with the words of Romans 8:28, "We know that all things work together for good to them that love the Lord." There are many schools in which we learn in life, in our Christian experience. There's the school of adversity, sometimes commonly called the School of Hard Knocks. Have you ever learned anything in that school?

Ruth: Oh my, I guess we all have.

Carol Jones Saint: There's the school of affliction. And oh, how much we can learn in the school of affliction and pain and suffering. And then there's the school of patience. Sometimes we learn an awful lot just by waiting. We have to learn to wait. And there's the school of experience.

And the Apostle Paul said, "I have learned in whatsoever state I am therewith to be content." Is there a heart o'erbound by sorrow? Is there a life weighed down by care?

I think it is important as we are having family devotions for us to notice the context in which the Apostle Paul wrote to the Philippian Church: "I have learned in whatsoever state I am therewith to be content." Here we are with Paul in the study, "I have learned."

Notice the background in which he says this. Chapter four, Philippians, verse four, "Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say, rejoice." It was written in the background of rejoicing. And then verse five, "Let your moderation be known unto all men." It was in the background of moderation and consideration.

Then verse six, "I've learned in whatsoever state I am with to be content because I've learned, be careful for nothing." That is, be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto the Lord. Having learned that lesson is certainly to make it easier to say, "I've learned in whatsoever state I am therewith to be content."

And then verse seven of chapter four, "And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus." That makes it easier to say, "I've learned to be content," when we know the peace of God that is with us.

Then verse eight, he thinks on beautiful things even in this filthy, rat-infested prison where he is chained. He says, "Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things."

Ruth: So in other words, he was doing something positively himself that instead of thinking of the dirt and the rats and the horrible conditions, he thought, "I'll set my mind on good things."

Carol Jones Saint: And on higher things. And as he did, he was able to say, "I've learned to be content." Then verse nine, "Those things, which ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do: and the God of peace shall be with you."

Now you see, even in this prison, he knew that the God of peace was with him. And therefore, in the context of all of this, he was able to say, "I have learned in whatsoever state I am therewith to be content."

You will remember the quotation that we emphasized in our last radio visit: "We should be content with what we have, but never content with what we are." Well, as you think about these thoughts, listen now as Ray comes to sing for us, and I want you to hear a beautiful old recording of Ray singing the song which speaks of contentment, "Why Should I Feel Discouraged?"

And there we have a recording of Brother Ray singing that song long years ago. Now Ray is with the Lord. He went to be with the Lord in November of 1989. But his song continues. And to the best of my knowledge, that is the only time Ray ever sang the song, at least when I accompanied him.

Guest (Male): There was something about it.

Carol Jones Saint: Well, we're glad that we have that lovely recording and that beautiful falsetto singing that he did, as he reminded us we have cause to be content when we know His eye is on the sparrow, the Lord cares for His own as well.

Well, in this passage of Scripture we read about the study, "I have learned." And then we read about the state, "in whatsoever state." Have you ever heard of whatsoever state? Not Pennsylvania or New York or Florida or Alaska, but single or married, alone or together, sick or well, happy or sad, light or dark. Whatsoever state covers all of these or any single one of them.

And then in this verse of Scripture, we read about the status, or as Ruth reminded us, the situation. The status, the situation. "I have learned in whatsoever state I am therewith to be content." That's the situation. That's the status: to be content.

That Greek word, remember, literally means self-sufficient. And it's only used here in the New Testament. The word content, as we have it translated, comes from a French word meaning satisfied or contented. And to be contented means to be satisfied or manifesting satisfaction with one's possessions, status, or situation. That's what the dictionary says. It's good to know to be satisfied.

Here are several other translations of this verse of Scripture. Another translator, "I have learned how to be contented with the condition I'm in." Another translation, "For I have learned to make ends meet in whatsoever situation I am." Or still another translation, which is very interesting, "For I, however I am placed, have learned to be independent of circumstances."

Ruth: Someone said "the condition what is."

Carol Jones Saint: Well, sometimes we have to learn to be contented and satisfied with the condition what is. Madame Guyon, about whom we heard in our other visit, was a French mystic who lived back in the 1600s, and she lived till 1717. She was a great Christian. She was a very special Christian. She left many writings.

She was confined by the government to a convent for a while for her heretical opinions, and then after she was released from the convent for a while, then she was imprisoned in the Bastille in Paris. Last week, we read to you one poem that she wrote from the Bastille. Now this week, Ruth, I want you to read to us another verse or two of poetry written by Madame Guyon from the Bastille prison, where she had learned with the Apostle Paul to be content.

Ruth: She likens herself to a bird who is in a cage. "A little bird I am, shut from the fields of air. Yet in my cage I sit and sing to Him who placed me there. Well pleased a prisoner to be, because, my God, it pleaseth Thee.

Naught have I else to do, so I sing the whole day long. And He whom most I love to please doth listen to my song. He caught and bound my wandering wing, but still He bends to hear me sing."

Carol Jones Saint: Beautiful, beautiful. It's interesting that she has the idea there that even though the Lord has placed her in that prison for a purpose, the Lord was still expecting her to sing, and He was listening to hear her song. And what if He had been hearing grumbling and moaning and complaining instead?

And you know, sometimes some of us are placed in a situation that is not our pleasing. But how are we sounding? Are we singing because we have nothing else to do, or are we complaining and grumbling?

Remember again in Acts, we read of the Apostle Paul as he was imprisoned with another disciple, and at midnight they gave praise to God, and the prison doors were opened, and the jail keeper and his family found the Lord, all because they were praising God. Well, I have learned the study in whatsoever state, the state, to be content, that's the status.

And then here we find the strength. For as in verse 11 of Philippians four, he says, "I've learned in whatsoever state I am therewith to be content." In verse 13, he gives the source of his strength: "I can do all things through Christ who strengtheneth me."

Paul was content, self-sufficient through the power of the new self within him. Not through his own strength, but through Christ. "I am ready for anything," the amplified puts it, "and equal to anything by Him who infuses inner strength into me." That is, I am self-sufficient in Christ's sufficiency.

Ruth: Oh yes, not in our own.

Carol Jones Saint: I am content in the contentment which Christ gives to me. I am strong in the strength which Christ gives to me. Paul knew he had a part to play. The basis of his contentment was in Jesus Christ, not in himself.

Oh, my friend, how important to know the strength. The strength that is told about in Philippians 4:13, "I can do all things through Christ who strengtheneth me," literally, "who infuses strength into me." That's a literal translation from the Greek.

Well, here more words from Madame Guyon written in that same prison and set to music.

Our friend Dr. James Fugate, Christian psychiatrist from Punxsutawney and DuBois, Pennsylvania, has written these words concerning Philippians 4:11, "I've learned in whatsoever state I am therewith to be content." He gives these words to his patients, and I think these are good words for you and me to remember. I quote the good doctor:

"Your present situation may not be to your liking. Perhaps you are dissatisfied and discouraged. Put the matter in God's hands. If He wants you elsewhere, He will lead you there, providing you are submissive to His will. But perhaps He wants you where you are. In that case, He will help you to adjust to the situation. He will make you content, even grateful for your present opportunities.

Learn the great art of doing the best you can with what you have where you are. And when you do this, you learn how to reach the better condition or how to make your present situation a better one."

Very helpful.

In Hebrews 13, verses five and six, we read, "And be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee." That's good reason to be content.

And that says, "I'm content."

What a very special joy it has been to have you visiting at home sweet home. We always look forward to having our friends in and to share a time of family devotions together. We hope and pray that the subject that we have been talking about in this particular visit, contentment, has been a blessing and a help to you.

Now, there will be several other additions. We just couldn't get it all said in one visit, and we have some other songs to share with you, and so that will be coming up the next time. But we do pray that the Scripture, the thoughts, the music have started your mind thinking and will help you in your Christian walk.

You could be of help and blessing to us if you would take time to write. Let us know where you are when you are visiting with the Joneses, what state you live in, what city. And you know, the ministry is now going around the world, and it is so thrilling to hear from many distant places around the world that are enjoying our time of family devotions together.

When you're writing, the address is Post Office Box 575, Erie, Pennsylvania, and the zip code 16512. If you're writing a check, the legal name and gifts are tax-deductible, the check should be written to A Visit with the Joneses, Incorporated. Thanks so much for being here, and it's been such a blessing for us. And we hope that you are finding real contentment in serving Jesus Christ. Until the next time, goodbye.