The Ten: Coveting
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
America spends on average about $69B dollars in advertising a year!
$69 billion with A BIG OLE B! A year.
Just during the Super Bowl ALONE this year! Approximately 65 commercials were aired at roughly $5.6M per 30 second spot for an estimated total of $485M! (https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-return-on-investment-for-2021-super-bowl-ads-11613730600)
According to a study done at the University of Southern California, approximately 5.3T display adds are shown online each year!
An average person sees about 2M TV commercials a year.
Back ini the 1970s, the average number of ads a person was expected to see each day was about 500. Now that number is roughly 5,000.
Emotional response to an ad has far greater influence on a consumer’s intent to buy a product than the ad’s content does.
Why is this? Well, I can tell you why it is not! It is not because companies simply enjoy advertising. It is not because companies love spending more and more money on bigger and better advertising budgets.
No, it is for one primary reason that we are seeing more and more ads and more and more money spent on ads. BECAUSE IT WORKS!!!!
But it doesn’t always work like you think it may work...
For example, most commercials key in on your attention in a fascinating way that is not as obvious as you think...
They don’t key in on the content of the product. For example if you watch a commercial about a phone, Samsung or Apple or otherwise. You will see a little bit about the phone but most of the time you will see far more scenes of people. Talking on their phone. Smiling, Laughing.....
In fact advertising specialists encourage this. Why? Because the goal is not to sell you on the content of phone. The goal is to sell you on how the phone will make you feel.
The goal is to make you say to yourself. I need this phone! I really really need this phone!
...........
Covetousness Explained
Covetousness Explained
So what does it actually mean to COVET? Merriam-Webster has two great definitions for it. Their definition for covet is
: to wish for earnestly.
This doesn’t quite make sense because there are many things that we can wish for earnestly that are all good things.
We can wish for our children to well taken care of and provided for. We can wish that we are able to leave them in better situation at our departure than they were in at their arrival.
We can wish earnestly for a deeper relationship with God. In fact, I hope and pray that many if not all of you are praying such a prayer for your life and the life of your church family!
We can earnestly desire someone to come and restore all that is broken in the world. If you’re here and you’re not a Christian, I’m here to tell you that that is an earnest and righteous desire. In fact, we believe that is an ache felt over the world and throughout human history. An ache that started in Genesis 3 when mankind first disobeyed God and invited sin, death, disorder, and chaos into the world and into our lives. However, we also believe that there is one who has whose name is Jesus Christ, the very Son of God and He came to the earth in the form of a man, God in the flesh. And He lived a perfect life and died for sinners so that we might be forgiven, that we might be cleansed of all unrighteousness, and that we might be restored back to fellowship with God. That is a good and earnest, God-given desire and I pray that this morning you would act on that desire and submit to Jesus today, but turning from your life of rebellion against God and trusting Jesus as your Savior and your Lord.
Act on that good, righteous, and holy desire.
So again, fam, there are good desires. Even the Psalms tells us...
The Bible even says in Psalm 37:4
3 Trust in the Lord, and do good;
dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness.
4 Delight yourself in the Lord,
and he will give you the desires of your heart.
Meaning that there are in fact righteous and good desires that the Lord will make available to us when our heart is on the same wavelength as His which happens when we are delighting in Him.
So, if coveting is not always bad, the question then becomes when does coveting become bad.
This is where Merriam Webster’s 2nd definition is helpful
: to desire (what belongs to another) inordinately or culpably
It is not just desire but it is a desire for that which does not belong to you or that which is not necessarily designated for you.
It is to desire that thing inordinately or excessively
In other words, not getting it has the chance of changing you at a fundamental level...
Not getting the car causes you too grow bitter
Not getting the promotion causes you to grow angry
Not getting the recognition for the work causes you to grow callous and to stop caring about the work.
Not having the relationship you want with someone (the closeness that maybe someone else enjoys) causes you to gossip about them or to spend more time and energy highlighting their flaws.
This is the coveting that God commands the people against in Exodus 20:17
17 “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor’s.”
Don’t Covet Your Neighbor’s Possessions
Don’t Covet Your Neighbor’s Relationships
Don’t Covet Your Neighbor’s Status
Here is another very important observation about coveting. This is only command that doesn’t have clear external expression.
You can’t fly these other sins under the radar. False Witness, Murder, Adultery, Stealing, Dishonoring of parents all can be seen. Some of the greatest coveters can fly under the radar unseen.
They can appear to be good friends who are secretly despise the fact that their friend has a bigger car, house, or wardrobe than they do. Or get more attention because of their looks...
They can appear to be faithful church members who are only faithful because they crave the accolades...
And because its unseen, its even easier to deny and deflect if you’re confronted...
And because its unseen, it requires more honest and sober self reflection and evaluation...
Biblical Examples in Coveting
Biblical Examples in Coveting
Coveting Relationships
Coveting Relationships
4 But when his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, they hated him and could not speak peacefully to him.
Observation: They forgot that Joseph was their brother. They only saw that he was the object of affection that they didn’t have. Which by the way this was affection that he couldn’t help or orchestrate.
Application: Some of you are living with divisions in relationships that had nothing to actually do with anything the actual party did, but rather what someone feels about the person.
We see the
Coveting Status
Coveting Status
6 As they were coming home, when David returned from striking down the Philistine, the women came out of all the cities of Israel, singing and dancing, to meet King Saul, with tambourines, with songs of joy, and with musical instruments. 7 And the women sang to one another as they celebrated,
“Saul has struck down his thousands,
and David his ten thousands.”
8 And Saul was very angry, and this saying displeased him. He said, “They have ascribed to David ten thousands, and to me they have ascribed thousands, and what more can he have but the kingdom?” 9 And Saul eyed David from that day on.
Observation: This moment happens right after David had returned from defeating the Goliath. The Giant Philistine (PhilistEEn) who taunted and tormented Israel. They were celebrating a MAJOR victory. God had given them the outcome that they desired. And yet we have this moment, where Saul hears the voices of the people giving DAVID higher praise in the moment than Saul and as a result he loses sight of God’s grace in giving his nation the victory.
Reflection: Again, God gave them the victory but it didn’t come through Saul. Coveting will leave you disappointed not because God didn’t move to answer your prayers but because He choose to use somebody else to answer them instead you.
Will you be able to accept if he does the work that you’ve praying for Him to do in your family, in your school, on your job, in your church, in your city but He does it through SOMEBODY ELSE?
If that bothers you than maybe we aren’t asking the work to be done purely for the glory of His name. Maybe, we’re asking for the work to be done for the sake of our own!
Sometimes our coveting of another’s reputation/status or our need to receive the credit for a work we’ve asked the Lord to do reveals a hidden desire for the glory that belongs to God!
Ask the Lord to search your heart this morning, saints, and ask him for a heart that doesn’t need the credit for a work that we’ve asked him to do!
Some of you may literally be living lives where you search out opportunities to serve the Lord and utilize your gifting based primarily on whether or not you will get the credit for it. If you don’t think there is an opportunity for you to be credited than you find excuses for not doing it.
Ask the Lord to SEARCH YOUR HEART this morning, saints, and ask him for a heart that wants him to be glorified more than it wants a greater reputation.
Here’s another thing that we see in Saul’s coveting. The lyrics of the song being song bothers Saul.
8 And Saul was very angry, and this saying displeased him. He said, “They have ascribed to David ten thousands, and to me they have ascribed thousands, and what more can he have but the kingdom?” 9 And Saul eyed David from that day on.
They sing about the thousands that Saul struck down but it is drowned out because Saul is counting David’s. He can’t even thank God for what he’s doing in his life because he’s looking over with envy at what he’s doing in David’s
Reflection: Does your gazing at the TENS OF THOUSANDS of mercies God has granted others blind you to the THOUSANDS of mercies he has granted you!
A nation’s stability is literally placed at risk because of envy and covetousness...
30 A tranquil heart gives life to the flesh,
but envy makes the bones rot.
Can I just give a caution for social media for a second? Social Media leaves some of us live in an unending state of comparison. A perpetual state of disregarding the 1000s of instances of mercy in our lives because we’re fixed on the tens of thousands of instances of mercy in others.
It’s been said that “Comparison is the thief of joy.” and that is true in some sense. Unhealthy and Unceasing Comparison is the thief of joy is probably more accurate. In other words, all comparison is not bad but it can become unhealthy fast, causing you to overlook God’s evidence in your own life because you’re too fixated by the signs of His grace in others.
This is the power and danger in coveting...
Don’t Covet A Particular Kind of Life
Don’t Covet A Particular Kind of Life
Ultimately, coveting is a very very serious sin. Relationships (Joseph/Brothers) are destroyed because it. Nations are disrupted because of it (Saul/David).
Notice how Paul treats the sin of coveting in Ephesians 5,
3 But sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints. 4 Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving. 5 For you may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure, or who is covetous (that is, an idolater), has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.
Did you hear that? Don’t let sexual immorality, impurity, or covetousness EVEN BE NAMED AMONG YOU as the church of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Again think about this…it’s easy to spot a habitual sexual immorality (we don’t fornicate and then return from it saying “Eh, I don’t know pretty debatable…not sure if that was fornication or not.” or “You know some people say it’s adultery but really how can you know!” but COVETING...
COVETING IS A DIFFERENT MATTER ALL TOGETHER.
We are swimming in American culture. A culture neck deep in envy, jealousy, and covetousness. We can be engulfed in covetousness and never have any attention brought to it. That’s should be sobering to you…That alone should lead you to cry out to the Lord…SEARCH MY HEART!
But also, notice that how seriously Paul takes this sin, basically saying it is one of the clearest evidences of idolatry.
Again, we are in a culture of covetousness. So, it’s sometimes easy for us to dismiss the severity of it, but why does Paul give such weight to it.
Covetousness is ultimately a dissatisfaction with life. I want that life. I should have that life. I don’t like them because they have a life that I want.
But it also a statement of dissatisfaction with God. It is a declaration that I need these things more than I need God
God isn’t enough!!!!! The blessings He has bestowed on my life isn’t enough!!! The grace He has given to me isn’t enough...
The Cure for Covetousness
The Cure for Covetousness
SOBER REFLECTION
Because coveting is a hidden sin and because we are surrounded by it, one step in being healed from this malady is taking a moment to stop and pause to determine how we have been actually impacted by covetousness..
30 A tranquil heart gives life to the flesh,
but envy makes the bones rot.
A content heart. A quiet heart. A heart that settles in what it already possesses and versus what it does not, but a discontent heart will rot the whole person…it will cause you to lose sense of just how ungrateful you are and just how discontent you are...
One author offers this great indicator of how to determine if we are coveting...
"One way to know if you are coveting is to see if you are living beyond your means. How much money do you have on the credit card? How much do you spend in relation to your income? When you are living beyond your means, throwing money here and there, money you don’t really have, that’s a good sign that you are ensnared by covetousness. Coveting distorts our list of priorities and all our values. When you focus on things, your vision of God is dimmed. When you focus on God, your care about things is dimmed."
What is your generosity to consumption ratio?
What is your debt profile look like? Do you routinely spend beyond your means?
Does it secretly bother you to see other folks doing well.
Do you grumble to yourself when someone else child is celebrated?
Do you inwardly point out the flaws in that child instead of taking part in the celebration? Do you do the same thing with your peers? When they are rewarded, do you inwardly or even outwardly fix your attention on their flaws instead of take part in their celebration?
What are you going to do with your COVID AID?
When receiving your COVID Aid in the coming weeks, if you’ve been using it as an an opportunity for coveting to just grab grab grab.... instead of seizing it as an opportunity to do the more important things with those funds, like generosity and debt management than that may be a sign...
Do we simply just get angry with God when we see what others have versus what we have? Do we grow bitter?
If this is you, how do we cure this illness
I AM NOT WHAT I POSSESS
15 And he said to them, “Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.”
16 And he told them a parable, saying, “The land of a rich man produced plentifully, 17 and he thought to himself, ‘What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?’ 18 And he said, ‘I will do this: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. 19 And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.” ’ 20 But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’ 21 So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.”
My identity cannot be wrapped in what I possess, because it is all fleeting.
Instead, I must remember that I am who I worship!
25 Whom have I in heaven but you?
And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you.
26 My flesh and my heart may fail,
but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.
I BELONG TO GOD
5 Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” 6 So we can confidently say,
“The Lord is my helper;
I will not fear;
what can man do to me?”
APPLICATION: Remind yourself as much as you possibly can of this truth! I belong to the Lord and in Him I have everything I need.
