4.1 Key themes⤒🔗

• Godly discontentment is the desire to know Jesus Christ better and be perfect like him.
• Every Christian should have godly discontentment.
• Godly discontentment makes us “press on”:
  - with confidence,
  - with effort, and
  - with expectation.
• While we are pressing on to know Jesus Christ better, we can still have peace, joy, and contentment.

4.2 Philippians 3:10–21 (NIV)←⤒🔗

^10. I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 

^11. and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.

^12. Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. 

^13. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: forgetting what is behind and straining towards what is ahead, 

^14. I press on towards the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenwards in Christ Jesus.

^15. All of us, then, who are mature should take such a view of things. And if on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you. 

^16. Only let us live up to what we have already attained.

^17. Join together in following my example, brothers and sisters, and just as you have us as a model, keep your eyes on those who live as we do. 

^18. For, as I have often told you before and now tell you again even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. 

^19. Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is set on earthly things. 

^20. But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Saviour from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, 

^21. who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.

© NET Bible

4.3 Godly discontentment←⤒🔗

In this Bible study we have already looked at a few passages from Paul’s letter to the Philippians. All these passages had something to teach us about contentment.

But in this lesson’s passage (Philippians 3:10-21), we do not read anything about contentment. Here Paul speaks about his discontentment!

In this passage we find words such as: “press on,” “straining towards,” and “eagerly await.” All these words tell us that there was something that Paul truly desired. He would not rest until he had it.

What was it that Paul desired? It was “to know Christ” (verse 10). Of course, Paul already knew Jesus Christ. But he wanted to know him better. He wanted to be closer to Christ. He also wanted to be more like Christ. This wish made him discontent. He would never be satisfied, until he reached this goal.

That is godly discontentment. It is a kind of discontentment that every Christian should have. As Paul says in verse 15, “All of us, then, who are mature should take such a view of things.”

As a Christian, your greatest desire must be to know Jesus Christ and to become like him. Until you reach that goal, you must not rest! You must “press on” and move forward (verses 12 and 14).

In this passage God also teaches us how to “press on.” We must press on:

• with confidence,
• with effort, and
• with expectation.

4.4 With confidence←⤒🔗

In verse 12 Paul says, “Christ Jesus took hold of me.” This is true of every Christian. You were lost in the deep waters of your sin, but then Jesus took hold of you and saved you. He will not let you go!

Now, because Jesus took hold of you, you can take hold of him (verse 12). You can know and serve him better and better.

Even when you fall into sin again and again, you should not give up. In Jesus Christ there is forgiveness of all your sins. You can confess your sin to God and move forward. You can leave the past behind (verse 13). You can press on with confidence.

In verse 14 Paul also says, “God has called me.” God is the one who calls every Christian to leave the old life behind and to follow Jesus Christ. Because God is the one who has called you, you can have confidence. You are weak, but your God is all-powerful. He will make sure that you reach the goal. He will make you perfect in the end, just as his Son Jesus Christ is perfect (Romans 8:28-30).

4.5 With effort←⤒🔗

How do we come to know Jesus Christ better? Of course, it is by hearing and obeying his Word.

This is not always an easy thing to do. To obey Jesus Christ, we have to “strain” ourselves, like athletes who are running a race (verse 13). The word “strain” tells us that obedience can be painful.

At the beginning of our passage (verse 10), Paul tells us what it looks like to know Christ. It is to “know the power of his resurrection.” But it is also to know and participate “in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death.” This is the kind of knowledge that Paul wants! He wants to know not only the power of Christ, but also the suffering of Christ. The Christian life is a life of joy. But it is also a life of suffering and death.

Remember that each of us still have an old, sinful nature. Every day we must fight the most difficult fight: the fight against our own sin. We must put our old, sinful desires to death (Colossians 3:5). So, even if we never die in the way that Jesus Christ died, we are still called to die! We must kill the old, sinful person that is in us.

Hear and obey the Word, even when your sinful nature does not want to hear and obey. That is how you must “press on” to know Jesus Christ better.

4.6 With expectation←⤒🔗

While we are in this world, we will never be perfect like Jesus. We will always have to fight against our sin. But we have a great hope: “the resurrection from the dead” (verse 11).

On the day when Jesus comes again, he will give us new and perfect bodies, bodies without sin. By his great power, he “will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body” (verse 21).

That is what we are looking forward to! That is why we fight against our sin. That is why we press on to know Jesus Christ better. We press on, because we know that he has bought us with his precious blood and he is coming back for us.

4.7 Contentment in discontentment←⤒🔗

Think again of the discontentment of this world. In the world’s discontentment there is no peace. There is no joy. There is only a chasing after empty things.

But godly discontentment is not like that. In godly discontentment there is confidence, because we know that God will help us reach our goal. There is effort, because we know that God strengthens us. There is also expectation, because we know that Christ will soon return and then we will be perfect like him.

This means that while there is godly discontentment in your heart, you can still have contentment! You can have great peace and joy in this life, while you press on to know Jesus and become perfect like him.