back to index2021-10-17 Coveting vs Contentment
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If you can turn your Bibles with me to Hebrews chapter 13. 00:00:12.080 |
And we're going to be looking at verse 5 and 6 this morning. 00:00:24.280 |
Make sure that your character is free from the love of money, being content with what 00:00:29.560 |
For he himself has said, "I will never desert you, nor will I ever forsake you." 00:00:34.160 |
So that we confidently say, "The Lord is my helper, I will not be afraid. 00:00:46.720 |
We ask, Lord God, that what you have ordained your word to be, your very breath, would cause 00:00:51.720 |
us, Lord God, to see a greater glimpse of your glory. 00:00:56.400 |
Search us and know us and see if there's any hurtful ways in us, that we may be sanctified, 00:01:02.200 |
that your word would judge the thoughts and intentions of our heart, that we may live 00:01:06.200 |
lives truly worthy of the gospel that you've called us to. 00:01:13.640 |
Some of you who may have been following the news this week, there was a lot of controversy 00:01:20.440 |
Some of you guys may have heard of it or read it because a whistleblower from the company 00:01:25.120 |
came out and basically said that she has evidence that Facebook has been deliberately and willfully 00:01:30.960 |
knowing that the material that they are exposing the people to are harming their people, and 00:01:39.320 |
yet for profit, because they want more people to be on there, that they're deliberately 00:01:45.240 |
And so there's been a huge controversy, a lot of talk in Congress, talking about splitting 00:01:50.520 |
up Facebook and that they can't allow this to happen. 00:01:54.080 |
And my response when I heard all of this was, "No duh." 00:01:59.880 |
Why is anybody even surprised that a company who's there for the purpose of profit would 00:02:05.840 |
be willing to do something that they know would be harmful for people for their own 00:02:10.600 |
And to think that Facebook is the only one guilty of this, that's as naive as we can 00:02:16.840 |
The researchers say that an average American, by the time he's 20 years old, have watched 00:02:28.440 |
Every one of those commercials, billions of dollars of research goes into it to get you 00:02:32.880 |
to buy something that you may not actually even need, to go places and want things that 00:02:40.680 |
People spending money that they don't really have to get things that you don't really need. 00:02:45.240 |
So to think that Facebook, "Oh, they got caught trying to make a profit doing something that 00:02:53.960 |
Do you think that doesn't happen in every TV show that you watch? 00:02:58.120 |
That they are pushing an agenda that it may not be good for us? 00:03:02.520 |
Every Disney movie you watch, if you've been watching it and you haven't filtered what 00:03:06.480 |
you've been watching, have been planting seeds in your head that we're all aerials, right? 00:03:14.600 |
That my life is no good, but something good is out there and I got to run away from my 00:03:19.480 |
And that's kind of like the theme of every Disney movie. 00:03:22.200 |
There's a reason why I pick on Disney, right? 00:03:30.300 |
You think the movies that you watch don't have an agenda? 00:03:32.840 |
That they're trying to get you to think certain things, to have a certain bent? 00:03:39.640 |
You think the news outlets don't have an agenda that somehow they're trying to get you to 00:03:47.200 |
And so they're divulging information that is convenient, bent toward one way or the 00:04:00.840 |
They're picking and choosing what are some things so that they can paint history a certain 00:04:09.400 |
You think the people who pick curriculum don't have certain things, ideas that they want 00:04:22.840 |
Facebook is allowing harmful material for the purpose of profit?" 00:04:27.520 |
To think that they're the only ones is naive. 00:04:29.600 |
The Bible clearly says the God of this age is Satan. 00:04:44.520 |
Age meaning what the philosophies and the values of the world. 00:04:52.360 |
So the Bible says that we have an enemy who is like a roaring lion seeking someone to 00:04:57.480 |
His primary avenue in the way that he devours is to infiltrate our thoughts and our hearts 00:05:07.160 |
And so to think that you and I are just kind of, just kind of existing in this world without 00:05:13.000 |
any specific agendas that are trying to deliberately attack your thoughts. 00:05:17.040 |
So that's, there's a reason why the Bible says, "Do not be conformed to this world, 00:05:28.800 |
So when we become a Christian, our whole process of sanctification is testing everything that 00:05:41.280 |
Because if you don't test it with the word of God, even the very things that you think 00:05:45.400 |
are righteous and unrighteous may have been influenced by the God of this age. 00:05:51.320 |
What you think is good and what you think is bad, because Satan has actively trying 00:05:56.120 |
to implant thoughts and desires in our heart that is contrary to what God has desired. 00:06:08.240 |
So that's why if you're not actively in the word of God and allow the word of God to test 00:06:13.160 |
everything that you think and do, you may already have been influenced and not understanding, 00:06:19.200 |
not knowing, or maybe not aware that satanic thoughts have been implanted in your head. 00:06:29.720 |
It says, "For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and 00:06:34.160 |
the boastful pride of life is not from the Father, but is from the world." 00:06:39.080 |
He basically, in this text, it summarizes the way that Satan works to implant seeds 00:06:47.920 |
If you look at this pattern, lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, the boastful pride of life, 00:06:52.480 |
you see that exact same pattern when Satan takes, or when Jesus is out in the wilderness 00:06:58.340 |
and he is tested before he starts his public ministry. 00:07:03.160 |
Remember, Jesus is hungry after 40 days and he says, "Turn this stone into bread." 00:07:09.840 |
And so he couldn't get Jesus to stumble that way, lust of the flesh. 00:07:12.960 |
And then he shows him all of his kingdom, Satan's kingdom, and he says, "If you would 00:07:17.400 |
bow down to me, I will give you all of this kingdom." 00:07:22.160 |
And then that didn't work, so he takes him up to the temple and then he says, "If you 00:07:27.200 |
jump down, if you really are the son of God, prove yourself and jump down and angels will 00:07:35.720 |
That same pattern, we see the same pattern in Genesis chapter 3 verse 6. 00:07:42.480 |
When Satan comes to tempt Eve, it says this, "When the woman saw that the tree was good 00:07:50.260 |
for food, lust of the flesh, and that it was delight to the eyes, lust of the eyes, and 00:07:56.540 |
that the tree was desirable to make one wise, the boastful pride of life, she took from 00:08:02.040 |
its fruit and ate, and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate." 00:08:08.960 |
So satanic attack, the desire, instilling this desire in us and then showing us what 00:08:15.520 |
we, to tempt us and to get us to covet, and then to pursue that so that we can get ahead 00:08:21.780 |
of everybody else, is not unique to Facebook. 00:08:27.680 |
This is satanic attack on all of us, constantly. 00:08:35.560 |
The text that we're looking at when it says, "Do not covet," right? 00:08:40.160 |
Let your life be free from the character, free from the love of money." 00:08:44.120 |
Of all the commandments that are listed here in Hebrews, this is one of those commandments 00:08:49.240 |
where it's like, "Well, I'm not materialistic. 00:08:52.200 |
I don't drive fancy cars and I don't look at million-dollar homes and say, 'Oh, I need 00:08:56.760 |
to have that,' and so therefore maybe I don't really struggle with this desire. 00:09:01.840 |
I want to show you just how prevalent this is and why this is so important." 00:09:07.440 |
So the first point I want to take you through is coveting is the root of many other sins. 00:09:18.960 |
He says, "Make sure that your character is free from the love of money." 00:09:23.160 |
He's not just talking about looking at something and saying, "Oh, I want that." 00:09:26.740 |
He's talking about the character, your very personhood. 00:09:30.860 |
In the other translation, ESV, in the NIV, it says, "Keep your life free from the love 00:09:36.520 |
He's talking about an individual who is continually pursuing after things that have been planted 00:09:47.200 |
Maybe it's just to compete with your neighbors to get ahead in life. 00:09:51.440 |
But you're pursuing these things, not realizing there's a deliberate satanic attack to draw 00:09:59.480 |
So he's talking about an individual where his life pattern is given in. 00:10:08.740 |
But his general character is pursuing what everybody else is pursuing. 00:10:15.620 |
There's nothing specifically to point out and say, "Oh, that's wrong. 00:10:19.740 |
But your general pursuit are the covetous things that you have allowed into yourself 00:10:24.740 |
and you're making decisions and you're pursuing certain things that is contrary to what God 00:10:31.180 |
In 1 Timothy 6, 9-10, it says, "But those who want to get rich, those who pursue riches, 00:10:40.220 |
fall into temptation and a snare and many foolish and harmful desires which plunge men 00:10:47.700 |
If your life is patterned by pursuit of getting riches. 00:10:53.620 |
He said, "That is the root cause of all these other sins. 00:10:57.540 |
For the love of money is the root of all sorts of evil. 00:11:01.140 |
And some by longing for it and have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves 00:11:06.900 |
Again, let me emphasize, when he says, "Love of money, coveting of money is the root behind 00:11:33.480 |
Because Adam and Eve coveted God's knowledge. 00:11:39.720 |
Because he coveted his relationship with God's relationship with Abel. 00:11:51.080 |
And then after he was rejected, he spent the rest of his life coveting what David had. 00:11:56.520 |
Ananias and Sapphira, the first people who get killed because of their sin. 00:12:03.920 |
They coveted other men with reputation because they were giving their property and giving 00:12:09.440 |
And so they coveted the reputation of godliness. 00:12:16.600 |
James says in James 4, 1-4, the root cause that leads to murder is coveting. 00:12:26.360 |
James 4, 1-4, "What is the source of quarrels and conflicts among you? 00:12:29.960 |
It is not the source of your pleasures that wage war in your members." 00:12:34.120 |
He says, "Coveting is the source of all kinds of dissensions in your family, in the church, 00:12:40.280 |
with relationship," he says, "because you have these desires that are not met." 00:12:43.840 |
Now, the desires that is not met doesn't just have to be material goods. 00:13:04.360 |
Whatever it may be, it is unmet desires that are causing frustration in your heart. 00:13:08.400 |
You lust and you do not have, so you commit murder. 00:13:11.520 |
The majority of people may not make that leap in committing murder. 00:13:17.280 |
The root cause of murder is bitterness and hatred. 00:13:20.680 |
And the root cause of bitterness and hatred, he says, is coveting. 00:13:26.280 |
You are envious and cannot obtain, so you fight and you quarrel. 00:13:31.640 |
You ask and you do not receive because you ask with wrong motives so that you may spend 00:13:38.600 |
He also says the reason behind false teaching is also coveting. 00:13:43.360 |
In 2 Peter 2.3, "And in their greed they will exploit you with false words. 00:13:48.660 |
Their judgment from long ago is not idle and their destruction is not asleep." 00:13:53.600 |
He says the motivation behind why these men were going around teaching false doctrines, 00:14:08.280 |
And even today, it's obvious when somebody is pursuing, preaching the false gospel in 00:14:13.600 |
order for financial gain, you know, that's the health and wealth gospel people. 00:14:20.720 |
It's their way of getting what the world has to offer, but they're doing it in the name 00:14:29.440 |
False teaching comes out because there's some benefit. 00:14:32.020 |
You tickle people's ears because by tickling people's ears, you may get a bigger church, 00:14:39.200 |
But he says the fundamental reason or the seed that motivates a false teacher, he said 00:14:53.760 |
The root cause of why people would commit or break the Ten Commandments. 00:14:58.940 |
You ever wonder why the Israelites would ever even be tempted by false idols? 00:15:06.900 |
I mean, what God actually showed, what among their idols actually showed up, split the 00:15:11.000 |
Red Sea, give them water miraculously, and then when they complained, he would give them 00:15:15.720 |
quail from the sky, and then he would destroy nations whoever stood. 00:15:19.920 |
I mean, they saw miracles after miracles after miracles, but they kept on being tested and 00:15:30.760 |
I literally like, why would they be, why would that even be a temptation? 00:15:36.720 |
If I showed up one day and saying like, "Worship this right here." 00:15:42.840 |
If you bow down, you worship this right here. 00:15:48.960 |
What was their temptation that led them to chase after these idols? 00:15:55.080 |
They were going to land and maybe their farm wasn't working as well, or maybe families 00:16:03.640 |
Whatever wealth, whatever coveting that they coveted in their heart that they didn't have, 00:16:07.840 |
and God wasn't giving it to them, and then they look at the Canaanites and they have 00:16:13.880 |
And so the reason why they ended up worshiping Asherah and Baal and all the other idols is 00:16:18.380 |
because through that they were hoping that what they coveted that they can have also. 00:16:24.040 |
So it wasn't that they were attracted to this pole or this piece of rock. 00:16:28.240 |
They thought that maybe if we worshiped it, we can have what they have. 00:16:31.880 |
So the reason why they kept on going after idols was the coveting that they had in their 00:16:37.000 |
hearts that was not being fulfilled at the time that they desired. 00:16:42.600 |
The second commandment, "You shall not make any graven images of him." 00:16:49.000 |
They would make an image and say, "This is Yahweh," because the Yahweh that they could 00:16:56.380 |
So they were creating an image of God that they wanted, much like today. 00:17:02.600 |
So much of the Jesus that is being worshipped in the church is a graven image of Jesus. 00:17:08.100 |
It's not the image that's in the Bible because the Jesus of the Bible is not giving them 00:17:13.560 |
what they desire, so they create a new Jesus that will give them what they want. 00:17:21.340 |
"You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain." 00:17:24.240 |
Today when we think of that, when we look at that passage, it means that you can't say 00:17:29.280 |
God and then as a curse word, which is obviously part of it, but the true application of this 00:17:35.980 |
is using the Lord's name to get what you want. 00:17:41.860 |
The root cause of breaking the third commandment is coveting. 00:17:48.880 |
Because they wanted to work and make money instead of worshipping God. 00:18:00.100 |
Now I'm not saying that this is true of every instance, but part of the reason why children 00:18:04.780 |
rebel against their parents is because the parents are not giving them what they covet. 00:18:09.800 |
So the root cause for many who rebel is coveting. 00:18:15.060 |
And we've already read in James, it says, "You shall not murder." 00:18:18.660 |
That is coveting that leads to bitterness and conflict that leads to murder. 00:18:22.920 |
So the root cause of murder, he says, is coveting. 00:18:35.180 |
You should not bear witness against your neighbor. 00:18:37.940 |
And part of the reason why there's bearing witness, false witnesses in conflict, again 00:18:42.280 |
in the book of James, it says it's because unmet desires, coveting. 00:18:46.540 |
And then it ends with, "You shall not covet." 00:18:50.740 |
If we don't understand the deadliness of this sin, we can kind of read all of this, 00:18:57.460 |
"Don't murder, don't commit adultery, don't steal, don't bear false witnesses." 00:19:06.580 |
You look at advertisement, it's like, "Oh, I want that." 00:19:09.860 |
You pick up a habit and it's like, "Oh, I want more of that." 00:19:13.900 |
And we won't think of all the things that we are warned against, coveting seems to be 00:19:23.620 |
Yet he says coveting is the root cause of why there's human rebellion. 00:19:35.140 |
Because Adam and Eve wanted something that God didn't give them and they were willing 00:19:43.400 |
Coveting is the reason why so many people fall away from their faith. 00:19:47.320 |
We're saying, "Well, some people may fall away if persecution comes." 00:19:51.660 |
The government is putting pressure and we actually have to sacrifice. 00:19:57.460 |
At least from what I've seen, when persecution comes, church gets strengthened. 00:20:01.580 |
People who may not be Christians fall out and then true Christians end up strengthening 00:20:06.340 |
So persecution has never been bad for the church. 00:20:09.020 |
Majority of people who walk away from their faith simply drift away because they have 00:20:18.920 |
So they're willing to compromise and go after things because God's not giving it to them. 00:20:27.340 |
Luke chapter 8, 14, it says, "The seed which fell among the thorns, these are the ones 00:20:31.620 |
who have heard and as they go on their way, they are choked with worries and riches and 00:20:37.060 |
pleasures of this life and bring no fruit to maturity." 00:20:41.620 |
These are people who hear it, seem like they have genuine faith, but because they've embraced 00:20:45.860 |
coveting in their life and it's not huge things, "Oh, I want to be a multi-billionaire." 00:20:53.220 |
It's all these advertisements that we see and we see what other people have. 00:21:00.500 |
I don't want to be materialistic, but what's wrong? 00:21:06.780 |
And so we make small compromises and next thing we know, that's what we pursue. 00:21:12.540 |
And I believe that that's probably the greatest danger. 00:21:14.780 |
What is hurting the church more than anything else is allowing coveting to creep into our 00:21:23.980 |
Luke chapter 16, 13, it says, "No servant can serve two masters, for either he will 00:21:28.500 |
hate the one and love the other or else he will be devoted to one and despise the other." 00:21:38.980 |
And yet we have churches filled with people who's trying to prove God wrong. 00:21:45.500 |
Either we don't believe it, we reject that, or we hope out of all the things that God 00:21:52.580 |
You cannot covet and pursue the things of this world and serve God at the same time. 00:22:04.060 |
And millions and millions of people who have gone before us have tested this and have proven 00:22:10.900 |
And yet every generation, there rises a new group of people who are testing God and say, 00:22:18.080 |
And then we create a new kind of Christianity that has nothing to do with the Bible. 00:22:22.860 |
The whole book of Hebrews is a warning against this, to not to drift. 00:22:32.300 |
They weren't drifting because of, you know, like there's division in the... 00:22:37.220 |
They were simply drifting because they just looked at the world that they left and they 00:22:43.540 |
They just started compromising, just start slowly drifting away into that. 00:22:47.980 |
Pursue a little bit of this and a little bit of that. 00:22:54.660 |
Turmoil and anxiety come from not having what you want or afraid of losing what we have. 00:23:02.260 |
And so either of these motivations that we covet in our hearts causes us to pursue things 00:23:11.940 |
Yesterday at the conference, one of the speakers, he mentioned like, you know, that we ask these 00:23:19.460 |
What is it that you want that you do not have? 00:23:23.460 |
And what is it that you have that you do not want? 00:23:26.960 |
The root cause of what penetrates into our lives and then leads us to all these other 00:23:32.360 |
kinds of sin are the small compromise that we make and we allow. 00:23:36.360 |
And the next thing you know, that's exactly who we are. 00:23:41.540 |
We just happen to make a decision at one point in our life. 00:23:49.580 |
Because if we don't recognize this sin, then automatically we start drifting toward the 00:23:59.080 |
But the second part of this is contentment comes from valuing God above everything else. 00:24:03.380 |
He says, "But being content with what you have." 00:24:10.560 |
When you see coveting, and he says that the way to combat that coveting is to be content 00:24:19.960 |
Do you just sit there and say, "Be content, be content." 00:24:25.200 |
How do you not covet when you're living in a world of nice things? 00:24:51.960 |
How do you not covet when you're living in a world filled with things that are easily 00:24:58.560 |
I mean, you show that to certain parts of the world. 00:25:08.640 |
If we just are wise with our money and plan well, buy Bitcoin early, you know what I mean? 00:25:14.800 |
There's ways to get to all of this stuff are really at our fingertips. 00:25:17.880 |
So how do you and I live in a world filled with temptation and not allow coveting to 00:25:26.320 |
Well, one, we need to recognize coveting when it's there and not to excuse that and say, 00:25:33.600 |
"Well, you know, I'm just taking care of my kids. 00:25:37.280 |
And all of these things that we use to allow this coveting to creep into our hearts, and 00:25:48.640 |
If you were to go back in time, what period of your life would you want to be? 00:25:58.800 |
Most people who graduate college and ask the 24, 25-year-olds who've already experienced 00:26:06.840 |
bitterness of life because they're working full time, and then they say, "Man, you had 00:26:15.840 |
They're already grizzled after a year and a half of working. 00:26:21.080 |
Most people will point back to a certain period of life, right? 00:26:24.560 |
Most people my age will say somewhere around 30. 00:26:31.640 |
So at 30, when the kids were young, they're in the house, or we, you know, even though 00:26:36.480 |
it was a difficult period of life, like financially, that's the period of life, like, when I fantasize, 00:26:42.680 |
When the children were young, we're in the house, right? 00:26:46.000 |
But I was dirt poor during that period, right? 00:26:50.520 |
I mean, we'd have to save up money to go to Korean barbecue. 00:26:55.520 |
But yet, when I think about my past, that's the period that I have the fond memory of. 00:27:00.040 |
It's like, oh, when the children were young in the house, and they still thought I was 00:27:07.340 |
Most of us will pick a period of life, and really, money, it doesn't have a lot to do 00:27:12.740 |
Most of us, the older we get, the more money we have. 00:27:15.060 |
Maybe we made some poor decisions, and maybe some of us had less money now than when we 00:27:19.800 |
were younger, but most of us, that's not true. 00:27:23.000 |
Most of us, the older we get, the more assets, the more money that we have, and yet, when 00:27:27.000 |
you ask, what period of your life do you want to go back to, it's a period that has nothing 00:27:33.440 |
And yet, if we talk about going for the future, like, oh, I wish that period would come, I 00:27:42.640 |
If I can pay off the bills, if we had a little bit more, when the kids are a little bit older, 00:27:47.240 |
and we didn't have this, and I can buy this house, and I can save up a little money, and 00:27:53.120 |
For whatever the reason, when we fantasize about the future, it has something to do with 00:27:56.840 |
coveting, but when we look back at the past, it has nothing to do with money. 00:28:05.240 |
I'm sure somebody after service is going to come up to me and prove me wrong. 00:28:20.000 |
Because he is attacking us, because he causes us to covet in our hearts, thinking that our 00:28:24.720 |
happiness is going to come if we have this, and that's what causes us to pursue the things 00:28:28.880 |
that when we look at the totality of life, doesn't even matter. 00:28:34.320 |
Satan isn't having what we want, but recognizing exactly what it is that we have, and that's 00:28:42.320 |
To fight coveting, he says, "For he himself has said, 'I will never desert you, nor will 00:28:51.360 |
In the English, the dynamic of this passage really doesn't flesh out, because in the English, 00:28:57.640 |
when we took grammar, they tell us you're never to use the two negative. 00:29:09.800 |
In the Greek, there's five negatives just in that short sentence. 00:29:14.880 |
In the Greek, it says, "No, never, not even, never, ever." 00:29:28.280 |
In fact, Charles Spurgeon has a sermon on this specific text, and the title of his sermon 00:29:45.800 |
It's not that the person who was writing this is really bad at grammar. 00:29:53.720 |
Of all the things that you covet and you desire in your heart, there's only one thing that 00:30:01.880 |
There's only one person that will never let you down. 00:30:05.360 |
There's only one promise that will always be fulfilled, and that's the point that he's 00:30:11.160 |
That do not give in to your character or life where you're pursuing and coveting, and I 00:30:17.960 |
He says, "Be content with what you have, because what you have, if you're a Christian, is a 00:30:22.640 |
promise of God that says, 'I will never, ever, ever, never, ever forsake you.'" 00:30:34.400 |
He's trying to instill in us that that's what Christian contentment looks like. 00:30:40.960 |
In Romans 8, 31-35, "What then shall we say to these things, if God is for us, who is 00:30:47.740 |
He who did not spare his own son, but delivered him for us all, how will he not also with 00:30:58.000 |
Some of you probably have memorized this text, but a Christian who lives his life coveting 00:31:03.440 |
the things of this world, discontent, it's not just, it doesn't make sense. 00:31:12.040 |
It's ludicrous to believe that God loved us enough to send his only begotten son, his 00:31:25.160 |
He was forsaken so that we wouldn't be forsaken to confess that, to sing that, to memorize 00:31:30.360 |
that, to study that, and then to leave the room thinking, "Is God going to take care 00:31:39.180 |
What if I give myself to him and he forgets me? 00:31:50.080 |
He says, "How will he not, if he gave his only begotten son, how will he not along with 00:31:56.320 |
If he loved us enough to sacrifice his own son, would he sacrifice his own son and say, 00:32:01.600 |
'Okay, now good, go, try to make it on your own.'" 00:32:07.200 |
He says, "No, how will he not along with him give us all things? 00:32:19.120 |
Who was at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us. 00:32:29.360 |
Who will separate us from the love of Christ? 00:32:31.520 |
Will tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or sword?" 00:32:36.360 |
In other words, never, ever, ever, ever, never, never will he forsake you. 00:32:50.640 |
If you look at the Great Commission, the disciples failed miserably just a few days before Jesus 00:32:59.840 |
The commission is gathering his disciples to go take the gospel to the remotest part 00:33:07.040 |
What he did, what God has been preparing since the beginning of the fall of man, that he 00:33:12.560 |
promised that the seed of the woman is going to crush the head of the serpent, that he 00:33:17.960 |
So all of history from Genesis to Malachi to the showing up of Jesus was to prepare 00:33:26.400 |
So right before they go out, they fail miserably. 00:33:30.640 |
In fact, the leader, Peter, fails the most miserably. 00:33:39.320 |
Just a few days later, he commissions his disciples, "Go therefore make disciples of 00:33:45.400 |
Now in any other part of the world, if you want to be a CPA and you fail the test, you 00:33:52.280 |
If you're going into law and you don't pass the bar, you don't get to be a lawyer. 00:33:58.560 |
If you're in the medical field and you don't pass your test, you don't get to practice. 00:34:06.200 |
These disciples before the Great Commission failed miserably. 00:34:16.740 |
Yeah, you wasted three years, but get somebody else who's not going to deny you. 00:34:23.840 |
"All authority in heaven and earth has been given to me. 00:34:26.360 |
Go make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy 00:34:41.240 |
That's exactly what it says in Acts chapter 1.8. 00:34:50.440 |
If you go on your own strength, that's going to happen again. 00:34:55.040 |
When he comes, you will receive power and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, 00:35:06.520 |
And the promise to give them strength was, "I will be with you." 00:35:12.320 |
Again, "I will never, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever forsake you." 00:35:18.760 |
That was the same message all throughout Genesis. 00:35:21.840 |
Your success is not because you were great, it was because a greater number, that you're 00:35:27.360 |
better trained or you have better leaders or you have better history or you have more 00:35:34.240 |
The only promise that he gave them is that you will be successful. 00:35:37.800 |
Do not turn from my word to the left or to the right. 00:35:45.800 |
Their whole success all throughout redemptive history was, "I will be with you. 00:35:55.800 |
Christian contentment isn't simply pursuing this world and getting certain things. 00:36:00.160 |
It's like, "Oh, I have money in the bank account." 00:36:02.680 |
We leave with all our heart the promise that God made." 00:36:10.420 |
That's why we memorize scripture, to be reminded again and again and again and again that our 00:36:19.520 |
Jim Elliot, as you guys know, is famous for saying, "He is no fool who gives up what he 00:36:31.680 |
Interestingly speaking, I mean, Jim Elliot was a tall, handsome dude. 00:36:37.240 |
If you read his story, he said he was popular with the ladies. 00:36:43.520 |
I mean, he could have literally been used powerfully. 00:36:48.320 |
What a waste, this young man who's so gifted and talented, even in the eyes of the world, 00:36:54.640 |
Couldn't he have lived longer and preached the gospel to more people instead of going 00:37:00.120 |
into the weird part of the world and Ecuador and then dying early? 00:37:06.160 |
See, humanly speaking, we could look at that and say, "What a waste. 00:37:13.880 |
He could have been so useful for God with all the things that God had given him." 00:37:23.980 |
He is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep to have what he cannot lose. 00:37:32.600 |
God used his death because it was in his hands, because God never left him. 00:37:36.520 |
Whether he lived a long life or a short life, God never left him as he promised. 00:37:40.920 |
This Psalm 23, this is a passage that we quote all the time. 00:37:44.840 |
Some of you guys may have it as a plaque in your home. 00:37:56.000 |
He guides me in the path of righteousness for his name's sake. 00:38:02.840 |
We quote that, we memorize that, we preach about that, but how many of us sitting here 00:38:19.240 |
The fundamental question for a Christian is not, "Is God good?" 00:38:25.040 |
That's not the fundamental question because even Satan knows that. 00:38:44.740 |
You can be in the church, be a Sunday school teacher. 00:38:47.480 |
You can be a preacher and say God is good, but that's not the question that he asks and 00:38:53.200 |
that's not the question that we need to be asking. 00:38:59.960 |
If he is not enough, you don't have to want to covet, you just do. 00:39:17.440 |
Whether you die with a hundred million dollars in your pocket, whether you die with zero 00:39:25.480 |
Whether your children are well taken care of, whether they have hardship, you die. 00:39:34.000 |
I'm not saying anything that's uniquely Christian. 00:39:37.240 |
And then compared to eternity, we live a blip and that's the reason why the psalmist says, 00:39:46.320 |
Help me to know how short this life is so that I don't covet this period of my life 00:39:54.960 |
Help me to number my days so that I would know how short life is." 00:39:58.680 |
You know, one of the benefits of getting older is this become more and more of a reality. 00:40:10.320 |
Help me to live with that reality so that as a believer, that I would live with Christ 00:40:20.120 |
A covetous man can never be satisfied and a content man can never be shaken. 00:40:28.480 |
I had a friend who was making $250,000 a year and he has to work overtime to meet his needs, 00:40:40.000 |
Now, most of us in this room who don't make that money sounds ridiculous, right? 00:40:45.680 |
Most of us peasants in here, $250,000 is like, "What?" 00:40:52.920 |
But if you're making $500,000, you know exactly what he means. 00:40:57.000 |
You make $250,000 a year and you need to work overtime? 00:41:00.640 |
Because when we covet, we don't covet down, we usually covet up. 00:41:06.080 |
I don't make anywhere near this kind of money so what I covet is in this room because this 00:41:26.360 |
What I covet is what I see because this is my socioeconomic status so what I'm surrounded 00:41:32.320 |
If you start making $250,000, you're not coveting what you see in the parking lot because that's 00:41:40.800 |
You end up taking your tiny little boat that you paid $100,000 for and you're in the yacht 00:41:44.840 |
club and the next guy shows up with a million dollar yacht, that's what you covet. 00:41:50.480 |
That's why somebody making $250,000 thinks like he doesn't have enough because that's 00:41:58.880 |
Satan will, no matter what place you are in life, there will always be somebody ahead 00:42:03.600 |
of you that you think that you need because that's the deception. 00:42:09.600 |
Majority of the people in the world look at what you and I have and it's a fantasy to 00:42:19.280 |
You know, the excess stuff that we have that got outdated, you know what I mean? 00:42:22.920 |
It was popular 20 years ago, it was no longer popular today so we're selling it, maybe sometimes 00:42:33.920 |
Majority of the world, if you travel, they eat the same food. 00:42:38.320 |
Breakfast, lunch and dinner, seven days a week. 00:42:46.160 |
And I've mentioned this enough on the pulpit where it's like, oh, let's go out to sushi. 00:42:53.080 |
So I got to have Mexican food, Thai food the next day, Pho the next day, Korean the other 00:42:58.480 |
day and then I got to go Italian the other day because we have access to all of it, right? 00:43:09.520 |
We live in a fantasy world and compared to the rest of the world, the majority of us 00:43:14.600 |
in this room think that if I just had the next, I should have bought that Bitcoin early. 00:43:22.960 |
That Dogecoin, that Shiba Inu, whatever it is out there and you're fantasizing like I 00:43:30.800 |
If I did and maybe the next one, maybe the next big one comes in, I'm not going to miss 00:43:35.220 |
out on and your mind and heart is filled with these things because Satan uses that to draw 00:43:42.520 |
us away from him and it leads to conflict, frustration and compromise. 00:43:49.280 |
You know what's interesting in John chapter 16, 33, after Jesus telling his disciples 00:43:53.920 |
that he's going to leave and you can't come with me and then John chapter 15 he says, 00:44:00.980 |
He says it over and over again, 11 times in John chapter 15, stay with me, remain with 00:44:08.080 |
Even as I go, if you want to bear fruit, you need to remain with me because I will never 00:44:15.480 |
And in conclusion of that text in John 16, 33, it says, these things I have spoken to 00:44:23.880 |
And then it says in the world you will have tribulation. 00:44:28.840 |
Wait a second, he said I'm praying so that you would have peace and then he says, but 00:44:33.400 |
in this world you're going to have tribulation. 00:44:36.320 |
Am I going to have peace or am I going to have tribulation? 00:44:38.760 |
He says, but take courage, I have overcome the world. 00:44:43.640 |
The peace that he's telling us has nothing to do with this material world. 00:44:56.200 |
Things that we don't have, that we've convinced ourselves or Satan has convinced us that I 00:45:03.440 |
And then we slowly, little by little bit, we covet and we go, next thing you know, you 00:45:08.400 |
wake up 5, 10, 15 years later, you're not the same person you were before. 00:45:17.120 |
It's just our life, our character begins to change because we've allowed coveting to creep 00:45:24.420 |
into our hearts and the decisions that we make, where we go to live, what we pursue, 00:45:29.240 |
what we value, what we're willing to compromise, all because we've allowed coveting to creep 00:45:51.200 |
Okay, Hebrews 13.6, it says, "So that we confidently say, emphatically say, 'The Lord is my helper. 00:46:08.960 |
That's our goal this morning, so that we can say confidently, we can emphatically say, 00:46:13.880 |
"The Lord is my helper, not my bank account, not the politicians, not my husband, not my 00:46:25.360 |
I'm not going to let the fear of, "Well, if I do this, what if I can't get this? 00:46:28.800 |
What if my children are not going to have this?" 00:46:30.680 |
I'm not going to let the fear guide my decisions in what I do. 00:46:35.280 |
What could possibly man do when God has promised, "I will never, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever 00:46:44.120 |
In Philippians 4.12, Paul says, "I know how to get along with humble means, and I also 00:46:50.760 |
In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of being content, of being filled, 00:46:57.080 |
and going hungry, both having abundance and suffering in need. 00:47:00.240 |
I can do all things through Him who strengthens me." 00:47:02.240 |
You notice here, Apostle Paul says, "I have learned it." 00:47:06.480 |
He didn't just attend a class and somebody didn't just show him a verse and he said, 00:47:13.920 |
There are some periods in his life when rich people were giving him finances, and so he 00:47:18.720 |
his ministry was fully paid for and he didn't have to worry. 00:47:22.320 |
And then there are periods when he didn't have to work his tail off to make tents to 00:47:27.840 |
He experienced hunger as an apostle, handpicked apostle of God. 00:47:31.680 |
He experienced poverty and he experienced riches. 00:47:38.020 |
So whether you have a lot, whether you have a little, I have learned the contentment is 00:47:44.860 |
So this morning, as we wrap up before the disco light goes off again, this is where 00:47:54.060 |
You know, last week we talked about honoring marriage and sexuality and all these things 00:47:58.960 |
are practically entering and we're having all kinds of struggles. 00:48:03.000 |
We talk about persecution and the politicians and crazy things that they're doing in the 00:48:07.720 |
All of these things, I think as Christians, we need to be aware. 00:48:16.240 |
All of these things are freedoms that we have been given by the grace of God. 00:48:21.200 |
But what causes the greatest destruction in the church is this constant nibbling at the 00:48:27.160 |
table of the world that allows the coveting into our hearts with no filter. 00:48:35.800 |
Knowing that the God of this age is planting seeds in our mind and in our heart and we 00:48:42.200 |
give into it day after day after day after day. 00:48:46.920 |
So you don't see yourself slipping until years have gone by and you see where you've drifted 00:48:57.720 |
You didn't get here because you jumped off a cliff. 00:49:00.040 |
You got there because it was day after day after day after day of allowing this covetous 00:49:10.160 |
So this morning as we pray before God, let's come before the Lord and honestly pray. 00:49:21.360 |
Have I allowed these coveting, not just material things, desire for praise, desire for comfort, 00:49:31.200 |
for refuge, our hope, better place in life, along with the material things. 00:49:36.700 |
Have I allowed these things to rule over my heart? 00:49:43.920 |
So as our worship team comes, let's take some time to pray and to really come before the 00:49:49.720 |
Lord and allow the Word of God to judge the thoughts and intentions of our heart.